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This
note considers UK publisher Felix Dennis, who has variously
been compared to Hugh Hefner and Bernarr MacFadden.
It covers -
introduction
Felix Dennis, recurrently characterised as "one
of Britain's best known entrepreneurs", was born
in Kingston-upon-Thames in 1947, studied at Harrow College
of Art and was briefly imprisoned as a co-editor of OZ
magazine. Following acquittal by the High Court of Appeal
he founded a magazine publishing company in 1973, initially
concentrating on personal computers and music.
Sale of Personal Computer World and MacUser
was lucrative, as was Dennis' involvement in a US mail
order company. He subsequently gained attention as a leading
UK 'lads' magazine publisher (notably Maxim).
In June 2007 Dennis' US arm - Dennis Publishing (with
lad mags Maxim, Stuff and Blender)
- was acquired for an undisclosed price by private equity
fund Quadrangle Capital Partners II. Dennis's UK operation
retains one of its US magazines, The Week.
holdings
Dennis Publishing imprints include -
- The
Week - news
- Auto
Express - cars
- Stuff
- mens
- Computer
Shopper
- Blender
- music
- Evo
- Viz
- Maxim
- mens
- Jack
- Bizarre
- Fortean
Times
- Men's
Fitness
-
Shape.
Studies
There are no major studies of Dennis.
We were unimpressed by Dennis' How To Get Rich
(London: Ebury Press 2006) or his poetry. A Glass
Half Full (London: Hutchinson 2002) was claimed to
be "one of the biggest selling books of original
verse in England for years" but for us is redolent
of John Laws.
For the Oz trial see Geoffrey Robertson's The
Justice Game (London: Chatto & Windus 1998)
landmarks
1971 Felix Dennis briefly imprisoned following OZ
magazine
1971 acquitted by High Court of Appeal
1973 founds Dennis Publishing
1974 launches Kung Fu Monthly
1977 acquires Hi-Fi Choice
1978 acquires Which Bike?
1979 acquires Personal computing magazine
1983 sells Personal Computer World to VNU
for £3m
1985 launches MacUser
1987 Dennis, Peter Godfrey and Robert Bartner co-found
Mac Warehouse (later Micro Warehouse)
1987 sells MacUser to Ziff-Davis
Publishing for US$26m
1992 Mac Warehouse IPO on NASDAQ as Micro Warehouse, Inc
1994 launches IT magazine
1994 launches PCPro
1995 sells most of stake in Micro Warehouse for US$83m
1995 launches Maxim
1997 launches US edition of Maxim
1997 launches Stuff in UK
1998 launches US edition of Stuff
2000 launches PS home-shopping magazine
2001 launches Blender
2001 launches The Week
2003 buys I Feel Good Ltd (Jack, Viz, Bizarre
and Fortean Times) for £5.1m
2007 sells US Maxim, Stuff and Blender
to Quadrangle Capital Partners II
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