For all he's worth: Randy Jones' latest financial play reflects a brash belief system in the resilience of affluent markets and the power of his own vision

Folio: The Magazine for Magazine Management, March, 2002 by Beth Snyder Bulik

THE MAN BEHIND THE MAGAZINE

The Georgia-born salesman who rose to prominence as the publisher of Esquire in the eighties learned the art of selling at 13-30 Corporation (later called Whittle Communications), where Chris Whittle and Phillip Moffitt recruited him to sell for its stable of 11 titles that included Graduate and Almanac. Soon after 13-30 purchased Esquire in 1979, Jones leapt to the upscale men's title and, at the age of 29, became publisher. It was there that Jones first earned his reputation as "a phenomenal salesperson."

George Green, president of Hearst Magazines International, who worked with Jones at Esquire after Hearst Corporation bought the title in 1987, says Jones is a persistant and gifted salesman who "doesn't take rejection well. He doesn't take no for an answer. He finds a way to get you to do what he wants you to do, and even if things don't work out, you still don't blame him. He's got that Southern gift of friendship and amiability that not all of us have.

"Once he convinced me that we should take the Esquire sales staff to London to celebrate its success," Green continues. "The chances of getting a Hearst executive to take a magazine sales staff to London in the late eighties were nonexistent--but it happened because he convinced me, and I in turn convinced Gilmore [Maurer, the president of Hearst Magazines at the time] that it was all right. We just sort of looked at each other and couldn't figure out how we had come to say yes."

Part of the management group that sold Esquire to Hearst in 1987, Jones reportedly walked away with a seven-figure share of the proceeds and the inspiration to start a magazine about managing wealth. Worth readers "are interested in managing their money and in living well with that money," says Jones. "That's where I was when I founded the magazine.

He launched Worth in February 1992, initially positioning it as a splashy business lifestyle title that had a certain Esquire-esque feel. In contrast, SmartMoney, which launched that same year, was much more service-oriented. SmartMoney made money much more quickly, reaching profitability by 1994--years ahead of Worth Jones and his investors--First Fidelity Investments from 1991 to 1998, then GSC Partners for the last three years--have put about $75 million into starting up and running Worth. Jones disputes that the money has been "lost." If someone builds a $75 million building, he says, no one would say that money is lost, as long as the building is being rented and producing income. In the same way, the $75 million that is invested, maintained and "rented" becomes an annuity for the owners, he claims.

The title, when stacked against the competition, is the smallest, both in terms of ad dollars and circulation. (See chart, page 24.) But Jones insists that size doesn't matter. "In most cases, we're the richest of the personal finance magazines, and that's okay. I never wanted to be called a personal finance book, and I never wanted to write about topics like how to invest $1,000 now or how to find the best mortgage. We would never do a mutual fund round-up--ever."