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Interesting New Publisher and Business Model for 02138

Intelligence

Interesting New Publisher and Business Model for 02138

May 12, 2008By Michael Stoner

Today’s New York Times reveals that a small publisher in New York, Manhattan Media, has acquired a magazine for Harvard alumni and hopes to make it a controlled circulation print/web/social network/events property. And then, if the model works, roll it out to the rest of the Ivies.

They’re acquiring 02138 [that’s the zip code for Cambridge, MA., in case you didn’t recognize it], a magazine for Harvard alumni currently owned by Atlantic Media, which owns The Atlantic and National Journal. 02138 is independent of Harvard University. It 

first appeared in 2006, offering articles on alumni and staff, and campus goings-on. It publishes an annual Harvard 100, a ranking of the universitys most influential alumni: last year, its top five, in order, were Al Gore, President Bush, Justice Anthony Kennedy, Senator Barack Obama and Bill Gates. 

I don’t know much about Manhattan Media; according to their website, they concentrate on community newspapers in (guess where?)-Manhattan. But the business model for this endeavor is mighty interesting-one I’ll pay attention to, even though I’m not a Harvard alumnus.


  • Michael Stoner Co-Founder and Co-Owner Was I born a skeptic or did I become one as I watched the hypestorm gather during the dotcom years, recede, and congeal once more as we come to terms with our online, social, mobile world? Whatever. I'm not much interested in cutting edge but what actually works for real people in the real world. Does that make me a bad person?