Telegraph Media Group (TMG), the £245mn-revenue, privately-owned UK news group, this week acquired Chelsea Magazine Company (CMC), publisher of 16 print and digital brands including: The English Home (72k circulation), The English Garden (52k), Artists & Illustrators, Classic Boat, and Britain. Some 70% of the circulations of the largest magazines are subscriptions.
It is believed that TMG is paying owner Paul Dobson £15-20mn for the £10mn-revenue specialist magazine publisher which claims a monthly aggregate audience of some 2.5mn, principally in the UK and US. It is believed the price would equate to some 10x EBITDA.
The acquisition was a result of a direct approach to Dobson by TMG, followed by more than a year of intermittent discussions.
Nick Hugh, CEO of TMG – 50% of whose revenue comes from its 730k print and digital subscriptions – made clear that it was especially interested in CMC’s 150k US subscribers: “This investment will help us to deepen our subscriber relationships and scale our market both in the UK and the US, furthering our vision to reach more subscribers than ever before.”
That’s a hint that TMG will follow the example of the New York Times in bundling additional products into news subscriptions. The UK news brand has already started to develop NYT-like verticals, notably this year’s launch of its Puzzles app. Chelsea’s three largest magazines (The English Home, The English Garden, and Artists & Illustrators) and also its Cruise & Travel, and Independent School Parent are likely to appeal to many Telegraph readers. They could also help to build the Telegraph’s digital readership in the US.
Paul Dobson launched CMC in 2007 after he had sold his previous company Romsey to the UK regional news group Archant. The two companies were similar in many ways, including their emphasis on US subscriptions. CMC was boosted almost eight years ago when Dobson was able to buy back (for a small fraction of the earlier sale price) The English Home and The English Garden from the then troubled Archant.
Dobson is a former local newspaper journalist whose magazine publishing has often been below the UK industry radar, not least because so much of his revenue has consistently come from subscriptions and from the US. His son James will remain managing director of the 70-person company under Telegraph ownership.
The magazine portfolio is nice fit for the Telegraph as it starts to spread its wings after a period of consolidation and recurrent speculation that the family-owned news group would be sold.
