Word has it VIBE magazine is shutting its doors and closing the pages on the company today. They’ve been suffering through tough times this year despite being one of the top magazine throughout the 90’s. But new owners took over in 2006.
Calls were placed to EIC Danyel Smith’s office and publisher Edgar Hernandez’s office and sources there confirmed the shut-down. This past February, VIBE reduced its circulation and publishing frequency, cut salaries, and moved employees to a four-day work week to save money. First VIBE Vixen and now the flagship mag itself is dunzo. R.I.P. VIBE.
UPDATE: Here’s the official statement from Editor In Chief Danyel Smith:
On behalf the VIBE CONTENT staff (the best in this business), it is with great sadness, and with heads held high, that we leave the building today. We were assigning and editing a Michael Jackson tribute issue when we got the news. It’s a tragic week in overall, but as the doors of VIBE Media Group close, on the eve of the magazine’s sixteenth anniversary, it’s a sad day for music, for hip hop in particular, and for the millions of readers and users who have loved and who continue to love the VIBE brand. We thank you, we have served you with joy, pride and excellence, and we will miss you.
Tue, June 30, 2009 1:32 PM
Vibe wasn’t one of my favorites, but it sucks to hear that it’s gone.
Tue, June 30, 2009 1:33 PM
YAY!! I was FIRST!!!
Tue, June 30, 2009 1:33 PM
does anyone still read that mag anyways?
Tue, June 30, 2009 1:33 PM
2nd?????????
Tue, June 30, 2009 1:33 PM
Ugh! I am so tired of this damn recession!!
Tue, June 30, 2009 1:34 PM
omg!! ciara??? were getn 2 bold i c……well, itz her body n a nice 1 at that , s0…..she shoulda left that shot inside the mag….now noone will buy,theyve seen it all…still luv her tho’
Tue, June 30, 2009 1:34 PM
Guess not :(
Tue, June 30, 2009 1:34 PM
That’s kind of sad. I’d rather go to the website though than buy a magazine.
Tue, June 30, 2009 1:35 PM
maybe they can start a blog….
Tue, June 30, 2009 1:35 PM
I only would read it at the beauty salon when I got my hair did, lol.
I thought they folded awhile ago.
Tue, June 30, 2009 1:37 PM
Only when I was at the salon getting my do done, other than that, negative :(
Tue, June 30, 2009 1:37 PM
Sorry for the double post.
Tue, June 30, 2009 1:41 PM
VIBE was my FAVORITE magazine back in the day and kept me abreast of all the hip-hop news! I am sad to see it go. My youth is slowly dying….
Tue, June 30, 2009 1:43 PM
I used to read Vibe faithfully back in the day….
20 questions was my favorite part…
Another one bites the dust….
Tue, June 30, 2009 1:46 PM
Used to have a subscripton for over 10 years, that was until YBF and other FREE outlets ;)
Tue, June 30, 2009 1:48 PM
Wow, times are tough!!! I never thought Vibe would fold.
Tue, June 30, 2009 1:51 PM
EWWWWWWWWWWWWW.
why did you have 2 use that HORRIBLE PIC OF CIARA?!?!?!?!?!?
VIBE IS WACK NOW ANYWAYS.
it was bound 2 happen.
the last issue i bought was in summer of 2001 when janet was on the cover promoting ALL FOR YOU.
Tue, June 30, 2009 1:52 PM
Quincy Jones is not hurting for money ya’ll…trust!!!
Tue, June 30, 2009 1:52 PM
And I meant free websites like this, not their website.
Tue, June 30, 2009 1:54 PM
thats crazy…I wonder how long wil it take for the economy to get back on it’s feet
Tue, June 30, 2009 1:55 PM
@keki!….micheal jackson waz livin’ art!!!!!!,UM WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?LOL
that ciara vibe issue came out LAST YEAR and thats what turned most of her fans against her.
alot of people saw that this WASNT SEXY AT ALL.so ciara was SHOCKED that most people didnt like it and she lied and said VIBE PHOTOSHOPPED HER CLOTHES OFF.
funny thing is,all that was over in 3 days and nobody has talked about it since.
IT BACKFIRED ON HER.
Tue, June 30, 2009 1:57 PM
I rarily read Vibe but that is sad, times are hard everywhere. And one less magazine devoted to us, but I think most people don’t read magazines anyway. I mean up to $5 just for a booklet with mostly ads in them is a waste of money, when you can go online and get the same info.
Tue, June 30, 2009 1:59 PM
Agree while it had defintely fallen off as of recently back in the day VIBE was my source for everything before there was blogs,websites or anything there was VIBE.
Tue, June 30, 2009 2:03 PM
I’m sorry for those who are now out of the job but as for the magazine, I really could care less.
Vibe sold it soul the day they hired Danyel Smith. She may not have been the catalyst but she is definitely part of its downfall.
Essence, Ebony & Jet better get on the ball because their magazines are crappy as well. If I want to read hearsay and innuendos, I will read a blog not a magazine I bought.
Tue, June 30, 2009 2:03 PM
Well, I’ve never bought a copy, read somebody elses copy or ever saw anybody else reading a copy so I’m not surprised it folded
Tue, June 30, 2009 2:05 PM
everything about this paticular comment/commenter seems false
Tue, June 30, 2009 2:12 PM
Guess this is what Danyel Smith meant when she came to speak to us at NYU and said “alot of magazines are closing down this year…you’ll be surprised”
Tue, June 30, 2009 2:12 PM
Nobody buys hip hop magazines anymore. Pictures are always available on the internet. It’s not like people actually read the articles lol.
Tue, June 30, 2009 2:14 PM
bad karma for playing my girl cici and so many other celebs.
their shady dealing caught up
Tue, June 30, 2009 2:17 PM
IS RIGHT ON AND BLACK BEAT still selling?
Tue, June 30, 2009 2:17 PM
Im not suprised that magazine was too expensive and there was never anything to read it was just pure adverts inside..
Tue, June 30, 2009 2:18 PM
damn. this was my favorite magazine. it WAS getting kinda skeet lately though. and people DO still faithfully buy magazines. im one of them. im sad to see it go. i have been reading Vibe since i was 13, and im 24 now, so it has been in my life a looong time..
Tue, June 30, 2009 2:23 PM
This recession ain’t no joke, folks…harder times are coming. RIP Vibe
Tue, June 30, 2009 2:38 PM
what about the source mag? I prefer the source over vibe.
Tue, June 30, 2009 2:39 PM
It is sad that another magazine has went under especially one dedicated to blacks. It makes me upset to see how careless you all are about people not having jobs now or other comments that say GOOD Riddens…Are you serious? These are careers that are NOW GONE! How would you like if your mommy lost her job or better yet, you and somebody say good riddens! A lot of the comments written are about how people don’t read and don’t buy them, that’s why it went under. In order was us to keep our businesses going we have to support them. I am a college journalist with a passion in reading and writing and value a magazine, ads and all! Appreciate the things the people before us worked so hard to have, while we still have them. Because please believe if we don’t fight and we just settle- it will be taken from us! Hence- Vibe Magazine RIP
Tue, June 30, 2009 2:40 PM
That’s good for ‘em. I knew they were tanking when they proclaimed “Plies” of all people as the “Future of Rap”. And they did it again with that blasphemous rapper torurnament list–I’m actually impressed they lasted this long. VIBE was to Hip-Hop as what BET is to black people. Good Riddance!
Tue, June 30, 2009 2:55 PM
sorry but vibe is one of my fav magazines. I still collect them!! Sad to see it go….
Tue, June 30, 2009 3:08 PM
I’m lost… How did she contribute to the downfall?? I know they were lacking something in the past years!
Tue, June 30, 2009 3:11 PM
I loved the issue with the FUGEES on the cover! Thats back when VIBE was still good and it really got to the urban community.
Tue, June 30, 2009 3:28 PM
Danyel Smith was on her second round as the editor in chief of VIBE. Mimi Valdes started the decline (it was winning awards when Emil Wilbelin was over there.) She left/got fired, then Danyel took over.
The magazine has been terrible in recent years. I can’t remember the last time I bought it.
Still sad to see it go. My first national story was published in VIBE. That was 01.
Tue, June 30, 2009 3:32 PM
ummm wtf ciara…lookz like she poppin a squat….y does every 1 have 2 b neked on magazines now a dayz???
Tue, June 30, 2009 3:45 PM
Oh yeaaaaa I forgot about MiMi Valdez, she’s over at Latina mag now and that doesnt even seem to be doing that good either
Tue, June 30, 2009 3:55 PM
wat am i gonna do i paid for my magazine and im suppose to recieved magz till 2011 of june..i am so sad to see it go i grew up on vibe now it’s closing it’s door so sad so sad…
Tue, June 30, 2009 3:56 PM
omg, for real! i loved VIBE magazine! wtf am i gonna read now, the source? *rolls eyes* does THAT magazine still run, anyways?
Tue, June 30, 2009 4:04 PM
they should be a shamed. they ended up with a topless christina millian and dream on the last cover
Tue, June 30, 2009 4:12 PM
No loss. Vibe has gone down in recent years.
Tue, June 30, 2009 6:04 PM
I was a loyal VIBE subscriber….sooo glad I didn’t re-new
Tue, June 30, 2009 9:55 PM
WOW! It is still a shock to know that he isn’t with us anymore, pretty scary actually.
Wed, July 1, 2009 1:45 AM
Forget VIBE. I miss Ebony Jr