Esquire Magazine

Not much has gone right for the British edition of Esquire magazine since its launch last year: Bursting onto the newsstands with all the hoopla that a big promo budget could muster--and a cover line that boasted "Special Collector's Edition"--it failed to ignite. Press critics and advertising executives complained that the men's monthly was unfocused, uninspired and, for a magazine that promised to reflect its new surroundings, un-British.

Mila Kunisis this year's sexiest woman alive, according to Esquire magazine - but then, we're not telling Ashton Kutcher anything he doesn't know, right? The 29-year-old, Ukrainian-born actress follows in the footsteps of last year's sexiest woman alive, Rihanna. In which case we weren't telling Chris Brown anything he doesn't know. But that's another story. Alas, the interview strikes a blow to those who thought they saw signs last year that Kunis might be a rare conservative among the Hollywood ranks.

Hearst Corp. today acquired Esquire magazine from Phillip Moffitt, its editor-in-chief and president, for an undisclosed price reported to be around $80 million. Esquire Magazine Group Inc., privately held parent of the 53-year-old publication, also said it had sold its New York Woman magazine to American Express Publishing Corp.

A new Stephen King thriller will be published in its entirety in the July issue of Esquire. "The Gingerbread Girl," a 21,000-word novella covering 23 pages, will arrive at newsstands today. "Over the last year, we've been trying to breathe life back into magazine fiction," Esquire Editor in Chief David Granger said Monday in a statement.

Bank of Boston's proposed $2-billion acquisition of BayBanks Inc. won antitrust clearance from the Justice Department after the banks agreed to sell 20 Boston-area bank branches to a UST unit. . . . Hearst's magazine division named Valerie Salembier, president of Quest magazine, publisher of Esquire magazine. She replaces Lawrence Burstein.

Robert Redford on Los Angeles, in the May issue of Esquire magazine: "L.A. today is like a big two-year lease. Everything is two years. Marriages. Friendships. Neighborhoods. People. Studio heads. Restaurants where you can get a quarter-pounder on a patent-leather bun and only pay $48 for it because the place is in."

Boston Chicken Inc. said Larry Zwain, head of its Boston Market restaurants, resigned and the company retreated from a lunch strategy that has hurt overall sales. . . . Esquire magazine has tapped David Granger, the No. 3 editor of rival men's magazine GQ, to become its newest editor-in-chief.

Esquire magazine has hired Jayson Blair, the New York Times reporter who was fired for plagiarizing and fabricating material, to review an upcoming film about a fellow perpetrator of journalistic fraud. Editor in chief David Granger said he liked the idea of having Blair weigh in on "Shattered Glass," about Stephen Glass, who fabricated 27 of the 41 articles he wrote for the New Republic.

Esquire magazine has named Terry McDonell, 46, editor-in-chief. McDonell was most recently founder, president and editor of Smart, a men's magazine noted for its upscale, literary content. Smart had been financially troubled in recent months. Before Smart, McDonell was an assistant managing editor of Newsweek magazine, managing editor of Rolling Stone magazine and founding editor of Outside and Rocky Mountain magazines.

Andre 3000 is the world's best-dressed man, according to Esquire magazine. "He's a complete individual," Nick Sullivan, Esquire's fashion director, said Tuesday. "But that's really the point." Andre 3000 is the usually-over-the-top-dressed half of hip-hop duo OutKast. Some of the 30-year-old's fashion outings include: a lime green jacket at the 2004 Grammy Awards, candy apple red fur for the VH1 Big in 2003 ceremony and a pink-on-pink ensemble for the 2003 MTV Video Music Awards.

Andre 3000 is the world's best-dressed man, according to Esquire magazine. "He's a complete individual," Nick Sullivan, Esquire's fashion director, said Tuesday. "But that's really the point." Andre 3000 is the usually-over-the-top-dressed half of hip-hop duo OutKast. Some of the 30-year-old's fashion outings include: a lime green jacket at the 2004 Grammy Awards, candy apple red fur for the VH1 Big in 2003 ceremony and a pink-on-pink ensemble for the 2003 MTV Video Music Awards.

Esquire has canceled a movie review it had commissioned ex-New York Times reporter Jayson Blair to write for its November issue. Blair, who resigned from the Times after editors learned he had embellished and plagiarized parts of dozens of reports, was to have reviewed "Shattered Glass," a film about another journalist found to have fabricated stories, Stephen Glass.

Esquire magazine has hired Jayson Blair, the New York Times reporter who was fired for plagiarizing and fabricating material, to review an upcoming film about a fellow perpetrator of journalistic fraud. Editor in chief David Granger said he liked the idea of having Blair weigh in on "Shattered Glass," about Stephen Glass, who fabricated 27 of the 41 articles he wrote for the New Republic.

Phil Spector, the famed record producer who has been under investigation since the February shooting death of a woman at his Alhambra mansion, describes the incident as a bizarre suicide in an upcoming magazine article that offers his first public comments on the case. "She kissed the gun," Spector is quoted as saying in an Esquire magazine article that is scheduled to hit newsstands next week. "I have no idea why -- never knew her, never even saw her before that night.... There's no case.

"The Enlightened Man," a profile of Minnesota Viking Pro Bowl offensive tackle Korey Stringer, will run in the September issue of Esquire magazine. However, because of Stringer's death Wednesday, Esquire posted the story in its entirety on http://www.esquire.com, the magazine's Web site, with an editor's note about his death as a preface.

O.J. Simpson compared himself in a recent television interview to Jesus and Moses and Job, and declared that he was merely speaking hypothetically when he told Esquire magazine that if he had killed his former wife, he would have done it "because I loved her very much." In an interview Thursday with the sports cable channel ESPN, Simpson said he made the comment hypothetically "as part of a scenario of things." It has since been taken out of context, he said.

Boston Chicken Inc. said Larry Zwain, head of its Boston Market restaurants, resigned and the company retreated from a lunch strategy that has hurt overall sales. . . . Esquire magazine has tapped David Granger, the No. 3 editor of rival men's magazine GQ, to become its newest editor-in-chief.