Catching up with: CARL PORTALE

Folio: The Magazine for Magazine Management, June 1, 2003 by Susan Thea Posnock

Byline: Susan Thea Posnock

WHEN WE LAST HEARD FROM PORTALE... He was senior vice president and Elle Group publishing director at Hachette Filipacchi Magazines. He retired in February 2002, having been with Hachette since 1994. Before that, he had been the publisher of Harper's Bazaar.

Today Portale is an investor in, and publishing consultant to, Zink. The magazine's a kind of "Maxim with a little more sophistication," he says. "It's a hip, irreverent hybrid - a combo of downtown and uptown, fashion lifestyle, and celebrity entertainment." He reports that the year-old-magazine, started by Sheriff J. Ishak, has been attracting such top advertisers as Calvin Klein and Versace without a lot of noise and fanfare. It recently closed a deal with Hudson News, and Portale hopes the 125,000-circ magazine will reach 250,000 by next May. Unlike the major fashion magazines, which have seen their audiences grow older, Zink is aimed at upscale readers ages 25 to 30.

Portale likes having a part-time role in the industry. "It's fun for me. It keeps me in the game," he says. "Fully involved is not what I'm thinking about. I did that for over 36 years."