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WSJ.com - Meredith Agrees to Buy Gruner + Jahr Magazines:
Meredith Corp. agreed to buy Parents, Child, Fitness and Family Circle magazines for $350 million from Bertelsmann AG's Gruner + Jahr unit.
Germany-based Gruner + Jahr will have an option until June 30 to sell business publications Inc. and Fast Company to Meredith. If Meredith buys them, it plans to then sell them, without a material impact on the overall purchase price, the publisher said today.
“Parents, Child, Fitness and Family Circle are established and well-known consumer magazines that will benefit greatly from Meredith's proven editorial, circulation, sales, database and brand-building expertise,” said Meredith Chairman and Chief Executive Officer William T. Kerr in a news release. “These titles have significant upside but have underperformed in recent years.”
Meredith, an Iowa-based publishing and TV concern, owns magazines such as Better Homes and Gardens, Ladies Home Journal and American Baby.
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The additions would increase Meredith's combined circulation to nearly 30 million, making it the second-largest consumer-magazine publisher in the U.S. Meredith's advertising pages would increase by 60% to nearly 13,000 and publishing group revenue would increase by about $300 million to more than $1.2 billion, a gain of 33%.
Gruner + Jahr's U.S. operations are the sixth-biggest magazine publisher in the U.S. The move, which comes after a series of recent setbacks, including an ugly court battle with Rosie O'Donnell and revelations that Gruner + Jahr executives manipulated circulation figures, amounts to a tacit admission that the company's longstanding goal of conquering the U.S. has failed.
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