Exactly 97 years ago this week, Henry Luce and Brit Hadden left their jobs at the Baltimore Daily News, raised $86k from family and friends, and formed Time Inc. Time magazine was launched four months later, followed in succeeding decades by Fortune, Life, Sports Illustrated, Money, People, Entertainment Weekly, InStyle and Real Simple. It became…
Informa boosts Tech Week
Informa Plc, the B2B publisher and exhibitions organiser, has taken a minority stake in Founders Forum (FF), the London-based network for tech entrepreneurs and investors, in order to expand its London Tech Week. FF brings together “the best, brightest and most inspirational digital entrepreneurs, corporate CEOs and senior investors who engage in open debate, brainstorming,…
Labcompare buys magazines
CompareNetworks, the San Francisco-based owner of Labcompare, has bought the assets of Laboratory Equipment and Forensic Magazine which were previously Advantage Business Marketing publications (a company which ceased trading in June 2019). CompareNetworks intends to combine news reporting with information on the tools and technologies used in these verticals to build the brands. The properties supplement…
Sanoma buys Essener
Finnish specialist learning and media company Sanoma has acquired Essener, Dutch publisher of educational social sciences materials from its founders. Sanoma already has a product portfolio for Netherlands-based secondary education and this deal is complementary to that. Essener offers learning materials in both print and digital, and made €3m revenue in 2018. Sanoma had sales of…
Her Campus buys again
Her Campus, the Boston-based online magazine targeted at female college students, this week acquired Spoon University, the Gen Z-focused website that has been described as “The Food Network for millennials”. The cash price has not been undisclosed. Spoon, which enables users to share recipes, health and lifestyle stories, restaurant reviews and BuzzFeed-esque quizzes, was founded…
The end of USA Today?
Shareholders yesterday (Nov 14) approved the private equity-funded GateHouse Media’s $1.13bn acquisition of USA Today owner Gannett, to create the largest US newspaper publisher, second globally to News Corp. The combined company, to be called Gannett, will own more than 260 dailies, hundreds of weeklies, and the UK-based Newsquest regional publisher. It will also have an…
HK shows under pressure
Disclosure of a 35% fall last month in passengers flying into Hong Kong, and closures of schools and transport systems underlined the fears of trade show organisers as the eight-month civil unrest seemed to intensify this week. It is just two months since the US-owned Diversified Communications cancelled its annual Seafood Asia Expo because of…
Endeavour buys Informa brands
Endeavour Business Media, of Tennessee, has acquired, from Informa Plc, a portfolio of 23 B2B brands and seven events in industry, automotive and infrastructure, including: Machine Design, Industry Week, American Trucker and Aftermarket Business World. Endeavour Business Media was founded in 2017 by CEO Chris Ferrell and is based in Nashville. Earlier this year, it…
What’s next for Telegraph?
Britain’s Daily Telegraph is for sale 15 years after the Barclay brothers acquired it for £665m from the wreckage of Conrad Black’s newspaper empire. Back in 2004, Britain’s biggest-selling broadsheet had copy sales of 860k and operating profits of £31.5m. Last year, the Telegraph Media Group made operating profit of just £3.9m. Weekday copy sales…
Nexstar-Fox TV swaps in US
Nexstar Media Group has arranged to buy two TV stations WJZY and WMYT both of which are located in Charlotte, North Carolina from Fox TV, a subsidiary of Fox Corporation for around $45m. In the same week, Fox TV is to purchase KCPQ, KZJO and WITI from Nexstar for a consideration of approximately $350m; these channels are…
