This article relies largely or entirely on a single source. (May 2010) |
A. Magazine was an Asian American–focused magazine published by A.Media, Inc., and headquartered in midtown Manhattan with offices in Los Angeles and San Francisco.[1][2] Geared towards a young audience, its mission was to "report on the developments, address the issues, and celebrate the achievements of this [Asian] dynamic new population."[3][4]
It was created in 1989 by Jeff Yang,[5] Amy Chu, Sandi Kim and Bill Yao to cover East Asian American issues and culture, and often featured fashion spreads, advice columns, horoscopes, and news stories.[4] A. Magazine grew out of a campus magazine edited by Yang while an undergraduate at Harvard University.[citation needed] Though well-known and influential in the East Asian American community, it was not profitable in its thirteen-year existence.[citation needed]
The magazine operated for twelve years though it reached a circulation high of 200,000. When the economy declined in 2001, the magazine declined.[1] When it ceased on February 20, 2002, it was the largest English-language publication for Asian Americans in the United States, with bi-monthly readership exceeding 200,000 in North America.[citation needed]
In November 1999, A. Magazine obtained $4.5 million in venture capital funding, and the company was renamed aMedia, reflecting a branching out into Web publishing. In early 2000, after announcing their expansion into a 20,000-square-foot (1,900 m2) office in San Francisco, the U.S. economy entered into a downturn. In an attempt to recover, the company merged with Click2Asia in November 2000. After a shareholder fight, the merged company closed in 2002.[citation needed]