Maxim

Maxim is an international men’s magazine, devised and launched in the UK in 1995, but based in New York City since 1997, and prominent for its photography of actresses, singers, and female models whose careers are at a current peak. Maxim has a circulation of about 9 million readers each month. Maxim Digital reaches more than 4 million unique viewers each month. Maxim magazine publishes 16 editions, sold in 75 countries worldwide. On February 27, 2014, entrepreneur Sardar Biglari, the founder of Biglari Holdings and Biglari Capital, purchased Maxim. “We plan to build the business on multiple dimensions,” he said at the time, “thereby energizing our readership and viewership.” In September 2014 he hired Kate Lanphear, the former style director of Elle and T: The New York Times Fashion Magazine as an editor, in an attempt to remake it as a luxury, lifestyle and fashion journal, at an annual salary that was thought to be more than $700,000. During Lanphear’s tenure, the September 2015 issue featured actor Idris Elba on its cover, marking the first time that the magazine did not have a woman on the cover. Lanphear left the magazine in November 2015. In January 2016, Biglari officially took over as Editor-in-Chief of Maxim, though a Maxim staffer said that the new masthead title just formalizes what has always been clear: Biglari exercises full editorial control over Maxim. At one point last year, the staffer said, he decided to throw out a nearly-complete version of the December issue in order to completely redesign the magazine.[17] On January 13, 2016, Gilles Bensimon joined Biglari as a special creative director. “What drew me to Maxim was Sardar’s vision for the brand,” said Bensimon.