[LostInNJ]

NEW YORK — Sandra Brant and Ingrid Sischy have resigned at Interview.

After two years of exploring strategic alternatives, Brant, chief executive officer, president and publisher of Brant Publications, has decided to sell her 50 percent interest in the company to her co-owner, ex-husband Peter Brant. She will leave the company, which publishes Interview, Art in America and The Magazine Antiques, after a transition period.

Sischy has resigned as the magazine's editor in chief after 18 years at the helm.

The selling price could not be learned, although sources said Sandra Brant "did very well. It was fair value."
"I've done it for 23 years. I don't want to feel like I'm in a movie with Bill Murray called 'Groundhog Day.' I'm interested in new challenges."

She started Brant Publications 23 years ago, handling the company's operational duties and all aspects of the business. Peter Brant, who couldn't be reached for comment Wednesday, has been a silent partner. The couple divorced in 1996 and, two years ago, Brant, who heads Brant Industries Inc., a newsprint manufacturer, wanted to monetize his interests in the publishing firm. The Brants hired Allen & Co. to explore strategic alternatives.

It could not be learned Wednesday what Peter Brant's plans are for the three magazines.

As for Sischy, who built Interview into an internationally recognized title that covers the worlds of art, fashion, entertainment and pop culture, she said she had no other choice but to resign Wednesday.

"With Sandy's decision, it's inevitable that I would resign," said Sischy. When she was drafted as editor after Andy Warhol's death, Sischy said she expected to help the magazine find its post-Warhol life and then return to writing. "It didn't happen that way. I stayed a much longer time then I intended — 18 years.

"A whole lot of it has do with the great people I work with and the fact that Sandy and I have been a team. We've worked well together as partners, and when Ginger Rogers hangs up her dancing shoes, it's time for Fred Astaire to dance in other ways.

"Although leaving the magazine and wonderful staff behind is difficult, it is the right decision and one that will allow the new owners to establish their own editorial stamp on the magazine," said Sischy. She said she's involved in several big projects that need her attention, declining to elaborate.

Sischy began her career at ArtForum in 1979 and is a widely published author on a range of cultural subjects. She also contributes to such magazines as The New York Times Magazine and The New Yorker and is a contributing editor at Vanity Fair.

Publishing and fashion heavyweights were surprised Wednesday to hear that Sischy and Brant had resigned from the company.

"If there are better people in publishing, I really don't know them," said Graydon Carter, editor in chief of Vanity Fair. "I can't imagine Interview without them. As a competitor, when you think you have discovered something, it was in their magazine a year and a half before. They were a great team together. I'm not sure it's a business without them. They did everything."

From WWD.com