Maxim: new high-profile editor
Maxim is understood to have appointed Greg Gutfeld, former editor of Stuff, the biggest-selling men’s magazine in the US, as its new editor.
Gutfeld was flown to London last week and is believed to have bowled over executives at Dennis Publishing with his “fresh” approach and A-list contacts.
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Dennis refused to confirm the appointment this week but sources claimed Gutfeld had the credibility they were looking for. He has a high profile in US media circles and is well known for his lively personality and irreverent sense of humour. He is also said to have extensive contacts and an ability to snap up the kind of top Hollywood stars Maxim needs.
“Greg can pick up the phone and is mates with these people. If they want to go to a British mag, he’ll be uppermost in their minds,” a source added.
Gutfeld joined US Stuff – also published by Dennis – at its launch in 1999 and lifted its sales to around 1.2 million. By comparison, in the UK FHM sells 601,166 and Maxim 243,341 Gutfeld was transferred to special projects at Dennis last year and has been working on TV programming deals for Maxim. Prior to Stuff, he edited the US edition of Men’s Health.
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At Maxim he succeeds Tom Loxley, who quit as editor last month. Under Loxley, Maxim achieved a record sale of 328,000 and was repositioned as a mass-market read for older men, with longer reportage features and A-list cover stars such as Cameron Diaz.
When Loxley quit the magazine last month, sources claimed his vision was not in sync with the strategy drawn up by Maxim’s new publishing team to compete with the weeklies Zoo and Nuts.
Gutfeld is also infamous for pulling stunts, having caused a stir in the front row of a fashion show in New York recently by turning up wearing a bearskin and sending a group of dwarfs to disrupt a magazine event.
By Ruth Addicott
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