Type of business Private Area served International | ||
Founded 2001; 16 years ago (2001) Dissolved November/December 2016 (print) Headquarters New York City, New York, U.S.Birmingham, Alabama, U.S. | ||
Mental Floss (stylized mental_floss) is an American digital, print, and e-commerce media company focused on millennials. It is owned by Dennis Publishing and based in New York City. mentalfloss.com, which presents facts, puzzles, and trivia with a humorous tone, draws 20.5 million unique users a month. Its YouTube channel produces three weekly series and has 1.3 million subscribers. The magazine mental_floss has a circulation of 160,000 and publishes six issues a year. In October 2015, Mental Floss teamed with the National Geographic Channel for its first televised special, Brain Surgery Live with mental_floss, the first brain surgery ever broadcast live.
Contents
- Origin
- Notable contributors
- Magazine sections
- Recurring themes
- Recurring blog categories
- Merchandise
- Books
- Media coverage and awards
- References
Launched in Birmingham, Alabama in 2001, the company has additional offices in Midtown Manhattan. The magazine has more than 100,000 subscribers in over 17 countries. The publication also has been included in Inc. magazine's list of the 5,000 fastest growing private companies.
The magazine frequently publishes books and sells humorous T-shirts. It also developed a licensed trivia board game called Split Decision, similar to Trivial Pursuit. Its online store sells quirky home and office supplies, games and toys.
Dennis Publishing bought Mental Floss in 2011. The November/December 2016 issue was the last print edition of the magazine, which became only-web publication. Instead of getting a refund, subscribers were sent copies of The Week.
Origin
The magazine was co-founded by William E. Pearson and Mangesh Hattikudur while they were students at Duke University. According to the Mental Floss website, the idea came from conversations in the Duke cafeteria about the need for an entertaining educational magazine. According to Hattikudur, they wanted to "distill some of the best lectures from our favorite college professors. We thought if we could bottle their enthusiasm and deliver it in monthly installments, it'd be great."
Later, Pearson met with president of Duke University, who loved the idea, but disliked the name. The first published issue, known as the "Campus Edition", was published in spring 2000, distributing 3,000 issues.
The founders spent much of their first year looking for investors and staff members while raising funds to publish the first issue, which was released in May 2001. Over the following summer, 8,000 copies were distributed, and 60% sold out on newsstands.
Notable contributors
Magazine sections
Each issue of Mental Floss magazine is divided into the following sections:
Recurring themes
Every year, Mental Floss publishes one "Ten Issue." It usually features lists of ten things focusing on subjects like: "Ten Most Forgettable Presidents," or "Ten Famous Monkeys in Science."
Initially, "Mental Floss" tried to feature self-proclaimed mascot Albert Einstein on the cover of each issue. The magazine even did a 'swimsuit issue,' which featured a topless Einstein.
Recurring blog categories
Merchandise
Mental Floss sells merchandise through its online store and its retail store in Chesterland, Ohio.
Books
Media coverage and awards
Mental Floss has been covered by magazines and newspapers such as Reader's Digest, Los Angeles Times, CNN.com, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Entertainment Weekly, Newsweek, Dallas Morning News, The Wall Street Journal, New York Times and the Washington Post. Other media coverage includes: