Bob Guccione Jr. is the publisher of Spin, Gear, and most recently Wonderlust. As the son of the publisher of Penthouse and Omni, Guccione came into magazine publishing naturally. His parents separated in 1965, and he lived with his mother in her native England until they moved to New Jersey when he was fifteen.
A high-school dropout, Guccione worked in magazine circulation and marketing before launching Spin under the Penthouse aegis with $500,000 from his father. At first, it failed to attract enough subscribers and advertisers to turn a profit, and Guccione Sr. announced in 1987 that the magazine would cease publication. But Guccione Jr. decided to separate Spin from Penthouse and publish it with support from independent investors—a move that created a rift between father and son.