Pocket Outdoor Media purchases more active magazine titles

BOULDER — Pocket Outdoor Media LLC has purchased three niche lifestyle magazine titles with the acquisition of Big Stone Publishing Ltd., extending a buying spree begun in the summer.

In a statement, Boulder-based Pocket said it acquired Carbondale-based Big Stone and its titles Rock & Ice, Trail Runner and Gym Climber. Rock & Ice will be combined into the existing Climbing magazine owned by Pocket.

“By merging Rock & Ice into Climbing, we’ll be better positioned to deliver exceptional content and cover all of the sport’s disciplines,” Pocket Outdoor CEO Robin Thurston said in a statement.

In an interview with SNEWS, a Pocket-owned magazine, Thurston said all staffers from the Big Stone titles will be offered positions within Pocket’s ranks.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Pocket previously bought 16 titles from Active Interest Media Inc. in July. It also raised $11.22 million in a Series A funding round, according to filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Active Interest previously purchased 10 crafting publications at a bankruptcy auction from Fort Collins-based F+W Media Inc. last year for $1.75 million. F+W had more than $105 million in debts when it filed for protections in March 2019.

Interweave, a weaving, knitting and crochet title founded in Loveland in 1975, remains with F+W’s successor Peak Media Properties LLC.

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