Jann Wenner to sell 49% of Rolling Stone to Singapore’s BandLab

SINGAPORE (Sept 26): There comes a time when even Jann Wenner needs a little help from his friends.

After a five-decade run full of interviews with pop stars and presidents, the founder of Rolling Stone is selling 49% of the iconic magazine to an Asian billionaire’s son. It’s the first time Wenner has admitted an outside investor, a deal that encapsulates the plight of an industry fighting to stay relevant in an online age. Wenner Media LLC also owns Us Weekly and Men’s Journal.

Founded in 1967, Rolling Stone became a fixture of American pop culture, helping launch the careers of writers and creative artists over almost 50 years. But like many of its peers, the magazine has steadily lost advertising and readership to nimbler online alternatives. In 2014, Wenner tasked his son Gus with devising a digital strategy. Now Wenner, who started Rolling Stone from a San Francisco warehouse, plans to relinquish as much of his magazine as possible without ceding control.

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