Robert Kennedy Publishing Out of Business


Robert Kennedy Publishing (RKP) is out of business and officially closed its doors today. We’ve confirmed with multiple sources that the one time leading publishing company in health and fitness has closed their office and filed bankruptcy.

oxygen-closes-doors

Since the passing of Robert Kennedy, just over a year ago, the bodybuilding, health & fitness publishing company has struggled. Bob Kennedy was great about building relationships and fostering new talent. His passion was unmatched in the world of health & fitness and even when times were tough people stuck by him. Once Bob passed things began to change and it’s no secret to those in the industry that there were rough waters ahead for the staff without Bob behind it.

The news is sad on many levels. We’re told the staff at RKP were not allowed in the building this afternoon and the company has filed bankruptcy. The news caught the staff by surprise and while they knew things were tough they didn’t expect to be out of a job today. We’ve also been informed that the printer has stopped printing the current issues of the magazines and are owed large sums of money by RKP.

There’s always rumors floating around and you hope that they are proven false in time. Sadly this is one rumor that proved true sooner than anyone thought. Since the news broke on twitter today (see tweet below), many contractors have come forward and reported not being paid. Photographers have shared they haven’t been paid for work completed months ago. Models shared with us that they too have been waiting for payment.


Bill Geiger was recently appointed editor-in-chief of Oxygen and was editor-in-chief of Muscle Mag International. He shared via his Facebook page, “Canusa/Robert Kennedy Pubs which produces MuscleMag and Oxygen has gone out of business. Closed its doors. It was great working all the great people on staff and athletes out there. Hope I land on my feet.” Bill was quietly named editor-in-chief after the position was vacated last month. There was no press release announcing his hiring and unfortunately there’s been nothing posted from RKP officially on their sites or social media outlets.

When it comes to what happens next it’s anyone’s guess. Oxygen is a very popular title and it’s likely another publisher will buy the assets and bring it back. Those who are subscribers to the magazines will likely be left out in the cold, at least for now. Subscriptions were where Oxygen excelled and those are valuable assets to a new buyer. Those owed money, will most likely never see a check. The staff has been left displaced and without jobs. Many of them have been at RKP for years. There’s no sense in blaming anyone person for today’s news and it’s an unfortunate situation for all in the fitness industry.

We’ll keep you posted as more information becomes available on this story.

About RKP
In 1974, Robert Kennedy started his first magazine, MuscleMag International, at his kitchen table with his friend Johnny Fitness. Fast-forward 38 years and with the continued success of that magazine, joined with Robert’s perseverance, the dream has now evolved into a publishing house with a strong focus on health, fitness, nutrition and lifestyle titles.

Formerly the Canusa Publishing Group, Robert Kennedy Publishing (RKP) currently publishes six highly successful magazines with worldwide circulation. MuscleMag International is still going strong, alongside Oxygen, American Curves, Maximum Fitness, Reps! and most recently, Clean Eating.

Our book publishing department has grown and RKP has published over 53 books with titles emphasizing topics like fitness, health, lifestyle and nutrition.

A lot can be said about a man and his vision. RKP is led by a man who had a vision and grew it into a successful company that continues to grow, producing compelling, inspiring and engaging content that delights its readers.

UPDATE: 7:30PM Central Time from Oxygen Magazine Australia Facebook
RKP closes its doors…

Sadly Robert Kennedy Publishing has filed for bankruptcy in Canada and until new owners are found they have closed their doors. As you would be aware Fitmedia publish three licenced titles from RKP being; Musclemag, Oxygen and Clean Eating. All these titles are growing for us and we have more than enough content to continue delivering these popular magazines to you.

Our production is in NO way affected by the closure in Canada and we will bring more details to you all as soon as they come to hand. Having just had Tosca Reno in Australia for three weeks, we know that her Eat Clean brand is thriving and that there is plenty of goodwill internationally to re-establish the existing RKP titles as we know and love them.

Thoughts are with the Canadian team right now!






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