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Once again, VIBE magazine has been sold. SpinMedia announced its purchase of the Urban music and fashion title, and its multiple websites, today. 

Reports the New York Times:

SpinMedia, a group of music and pop culture Web sites that includes Spin magazine, has bought Vibe, the 21-year-old R&B and hip-hop magazine.

SpinMedia announced the sale on Thursday, saying that it had bought the rights to Vibe’s print magazine as well as to its related sites, Vibe.com and Vibevixen.com, from Vibe Media. The price was not disclosed.

The sale reunites the two publications, which more than a decade ago were part of the same company, Vibe/Spin Ventures, before each title went through a series of sales.

SpinMedia was recently known as Buzz Media. After purchasing Spin last year, it shut down the magazine, although Spin lives on as website only. Thus it seems likely that VIBE may be shuttered, again.

“We are still trying to find a print model that makes economic sense in the digital age,” Steve Hansen, SpinMedia’s chief executive, told the Times.

AllThingD reports that the title was purchased with equity, not cash.

In 2009, the VIBE magazine folded, before it was revived again in a matter of months with current Editor-In-Chief, Jermaine Hall, at the helm. In early 2012, Vibe Holdings purchased Blackbook Media. Earlier this year, Len Burnett purchased the Uptown magazine title back from Intermedia Vibe Networks.

VIBE was founded back in 1992 by Quincy Jones.

Photo: Vibe