The New York Blade, a 22,000-circ gay and lesbian paper, has suspended publication. The Blade, sister title to the New England Blade — which shuttered its print edition in October 2008 — and HX Magazine, was distributed for free around New York City on a weekly and bi-weekly schedule, depending on time of year.

Vibe Media Group (VMG), parent company of Vibe and the newly launched The Most Mag, will shut down at 8pm tonight, June 30. All properties, including its Web sites, will be discontinued. Vibe, the flagship magazine, had a total paid and verified circulation of 817,825 as of December 31 — a slight drop from a high of 879,072 in 2007. Per MRI, Vibe's readership was split evenly between men and women, and median reader age was around 29.

Bonnier Corp. has continued its expansion by adding Chris Allen to its management team as VP of group publishing and corporate sales. Allen worked on Time Inc.'s Cooking Light brand for 17 years, most recently as publisher. At Bonnier, Allen will manage nine titles in the travel, shelter and lifestyle categories, including Islands, Garden Design and Spa.

PrivatAir, a company that offers private flights to VIPs and executives, has signed Ink Publishing to helm a relaunch of its custom magazine in July. The 6,500-circulation quarterly, PrivatAir — the magazine, is offered on board PrivatAir flights and on all business-class services operated by partners Lufthansa, Swiss International Airlines and KLM, and at some luxury hotels in Europe and the Middle East. It's also direct mailed to PrivatAir clients and subscribers worldwide.

Meredith is launching a new magazine, Mixing Bowl, as an extension of its nascent social media site of the same name. MixingBowl.com, an online community focused on cooking and other food topics, soft-launched in February with invites to known online "mavens" in the space. The site, part of The Meredith Women's Network, now has 19,000 registered members and expects 180,000 unique visitors this month.

Reader's Digest is reducing its rate base and frequency as it redirects resources to new media and digital initiatives worldwide. The US edition of the magazine will slowly trim its rate base from 8 million to 5.5 million over the course of 18 months, starting with the February 2010 issue. Cuts will be focused on less profitable and less loyal subscriptions.

The 2009-2010 Magazine Handbook, released this week by Magazine Publishers of America (MPA), reports that magazine readership and influence remains strong, in spite of slipping ad numbers.

FamilyFun magazine is rebranding and launching a line of spin-off products and a custom publishing line in a rare growth push for media companies in this economy. The moms- and kids-focused monthly will be known as Disney FamilyFun, after its parent company, as of the August issue. The company's magazine publishing division is also changing its name, to Disney FamilyFun Group, all in an effort to make the most of combined brand power of Disney and the 2.1 million-circulation FamilyFun.

Highlighting the continued strength of the grocery industry, a new magazine for buyers and sellers of frozen and dairy products will launch this summer. Frozen and Dairy Buyer, slated to debut in August, will target buyers of frozen and dairy foods at the supermarket HQ level and those involved with the sale of such products to consumers, as well as some manufacturers.

Bonnier Corp. completed its acquisition of five Hachette Filipacchi Media US brands on Monday, June 1. The five acquired brands — Popular Photography, Flying, Boating, Sound and Vision and American Photo — fit snugly with Bonnier's existing catalog of special interest titles, which includes Scuba Diving, Field and Stream and Saveur. All five have print magazines, but they also encompass Web sites, books, licensing agreements, videos and branded events.