Recently launched lifestyle magazine Ampersand is looking for further investment following the sudden departure of founder and publisher Jonathan Kern.
Ampersand editor Andrew Harvey is also due to leave to take a new job at the BBC after the next issue. Kern left after a financial dispute weeks before the second issue is due to go on sale.
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Harvey said there was "a complete breakdown" in relations between Kern and Margaret Vercelli, the magazine’s managing director and his former partner. Although Kern is understood to have put up the majority of the investment, the shares are in the name of Vercelli. Kern said he had consulted his lawyers.
Harvey, a former Times correspondent, said it had been a struggle to pay contributors and keep the magazine alive. "Jonathan’s behaviour had made it extremely difficult to operate under these circumstances. I felt it was important to keep it going and get the second issue out," he told Press Gazette.
Ampersand has relied heavily on freelance contributions and while a number of journalists have been paid, many are still awaiting payment.
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Harvey said it was a high priority and he hoped they would be paid once the advertising revenue from the second issue is through. The glossy was forced to change its name from Cream weeks before its launch in March after it was threatened with legal action by the Liverpool-based nightclub of the same name.
Kern is currently working on the launch of a new lifestyle magazine, Et Cetera, which he hopes to launch out of Paris in September.
By Ruth Addicott
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