Glenn Sumi being locked out of his nowtoronto.com email in late December marked the end of an era, but NOW Magazine had been on life support for years.
So! Not a minute too soon! It's been a blast, NOW! pic.twitter.com/pmYESQBHnq
— Glenn Sumi (@glennsumi) December 22, 2022
As Richard Trapunski told us in episode 1077, people were literally working for free out of loyalty to NOW readers, in the hopes the owners of NOW would eventually figure things out and make things right.
Or as former NOW Magazine writer Norm Wilner put it, "they stripped the company and sold it for parts, promising every single one of us who kept those parts running that we'd be made whole when the sale closed".
They stripped the company and sold it for parts, promising every single one of us who kept those parts running that we'd be made whole when the sale closed. I wish I could say I was surprised. https://t.co/9AdAbSItgZ
— Norm Wilner (@normwilner) January 9, 2023
That was then, this is NOW. Enter Brandon Gonez, former CP24 personality. Brandon quit his on-air gig with Bell Media to go indie, something near and dear to my heart. His media company today (GMI, not to be confused with my media company, TMDS) announced they had acquired NOW Magazine.
On the surface, good for Brandon Gonez, but when you sit with this for a bit, you wonder why... NOW Magazine owes several good journalists a great deal of money. It seems this sale does not mean these people will get paid. Which begs the question, what exactly was sold here?
It looks like Brandon has acquired:
- the NOW Magazine website
- the nowtoronto.com domain name
- the NOW Magazine social media accounts
- the NOW Magazine logo
- the NOW Magazine baggage
If you know the value of this bundle, my email address is mike@torontomike.com.
The new NOW Magazine will be a solely online property, and it doesn't appear that any of the former NOW staffers will be a part of it. I wonder aloud if the baggage that comes with the name NOW Magazine will be more of a detriment than a boost. Sure, that SEO has value, but people NOW owes money to walk amongst us, and I doubt this sits well with them. This whole thing has left a rather bitter taste in my mouth.
GMI says the launch of the new NOW is January 17, so we won't have to wait long to learn if it will fizzle, as my Toronto Mike'd guest predicted earlier today, or succeed. Of course in this digital world of 2023, who will be able to tell the difference?
