Are Media, the Australian magazine group previously known as ACP Magazines and Bauer Media, has acquired the e-commerce business Hard to Find as part of the Sydney-based company’s revenue diversification strategy.
Hard to Find is a personalised gift retailer founded in 2008 by Erica Stewart who will be general manager of the business under its new ownership.
Are Media CEO Jane Huxley says the deal “adds new e-commerce capabilities to our broader business”. It is the second acquisition by Australasia’s largest magazine group since Huxley (ex Spotify, Pandora and Microsoft) was appointed 12 months ago. Last year, it paid a total of A$42m to acquire the former Gordon & Gotch magazine distribution business. As Are Direct, it continues to distribute the magazines of local and international publishers to retailers across Australia and New Zealand.
It is 15 years since ACP Magazines and Channel Nine were sold by casino owner James Packer to CVC private equity for some A$6bn. It was a disastrous top-of-the-market deal. Six years later, Bauer paid A$525m for ACP – less than one-third of its previous valuation. After seven years of trading losses that might have totalled A$200m, the German publisher had enough and sold out to Mercury Capital, possibly for as little as the A$40m it had paid for close rival Pacific Media just a few months earlier.
That messy financial history should not obscure the potential strength of a company that is now almost a monopoly of major magazines in Australia and New Zealand. It has an unrivalled portfolio of print and digital brands including the legendary Australian Women’s Weekly, Woman’s Day, and local editions of Marie Claire, Better Homes & Gardens, and Elle. As ACP Magazines, it once made as much profit as its then equivalent (IPC Media) in the three-times-larger UK market. Even now, The Australian Women’s Weekly has a print readership equivalent to 11% of the female population.
One to watch.
