Future to acquire Purch’s consumer division for $132.5M

July 18, 2018 — Fusion DigiNet

Future plcGlobal specialist media platform Future plc is to acquire the consumer division of Purch, the next generation digital publishing and marketplace platform, operating in the consumer technology and science verticals. The deal will see Future acquire Purch’s publisher services division (ad sales) along with the Business-to-Consumer (B2C) group in a deal worth over $132 million.

The acquisition will give Future a leading position in consumer technology publishing in the U.S. Purch has successfully grown its digitally-led business and generates more than $1 billion annually in facilitated commerce through its tech, shopping, lifestyle and SMB brands, including Tom’s Guide, Tom’s Hardware, Top Ten Reviews, ShopSavvy and Business.com.

Future CEO Zillah Byng-Thorne said, “Future’s mission to be a technology-enabled global platform for specialist media takes another big step forward today with this announcement. I’ve been impressed by the strength of Purch’s technology platforms and the expertise of its people. Together we can build a combined organization that has scale and growth opportunities ahead. The two businesses share similar cultures – we both share our audiences’ passion, we’re data-driven, ambitious and both have an innovative mindset. From day one Future will be number one in the U.S. consumer technology sector, and beyond this we see clear opportunities for combined growth.”

UK, London & US, San Francisco, CA

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Africa.com acquires iAfrica from Primedia and MTN

July 13, 2018 — Fusion DigiNet

Africa.comMedia holding company Africa.com has acquired Primedia and MTN-owned news portal, iAfrica.com. The terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

iAfrica was founded in the late 1990s, and continues to serve as a news source. Africa.com chairman and CEO, Teresa Clarke, will serve as executive editor of iAfrica, whose content will continue to include a wide array of coverage of local and international news, business, sport, and lifestyle content.

Clarke said, “The acquisition of iAfrica creates a next generation South African media platform with a global reach. By acquiring iAfrica, we are able to combine editorial, technology, and marketing resources, bringing the benefits of more original content and better site performance to readers of both iAfrica and Africa.com”.

Laura Joseph, Africa.com’s Managing Director, added, “We are fusing a legendary African news portal with an innovative and dynamic management team under one umbrella. With combined resources, we will continue to make each site better and better.”

South Africa, Johannesburg & Cape Town

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American Media acquires celebrity and kids group titles from Bauer Media USA

June 15, 2018 — Fusion DigiNet

American Media IncAmerican Media, Inc., has agreed to purchase the celebrity group and the teenage and kids group of Bauer Media USA. Details of the transaction were not disclosed but it is expected to close on or about July 1, 2018. With this agreement, AMI will take ownership of the complementary print and digital properties for the 13 brands within these two groups. Titles such as In Touch, Life & Style, Closer, J-14 and Teen Boss will round out AMI’s current portfolio.

AMI owns and operates the leading print and digital celebrity and active lifestyle media brands in the United States. AMI’s titles include Us Weekly, OK!, Star, Men’s Journal, Muscle & Fitness, Mr. Olympia Contest, National Enquirer and other celebrity titles. AMI also manages nine different digital sites including Usmagazine.com, OKmagazine.com, RadarOnline.com, MensJournal.com, MuscleandFitness.com and other digital and social properties. AMI’s magazines have a combined total circulation of 5.3+ million and reach more than 51 million men and women each month. AMI’s digital properties reach approximately 60 million unique visitors monthly.

Chairman and CEO David J. Pecker, said, “It gives me great pleasure to announce this acquisition which provides AMI with an extraordinary opportunity to further build upon the success of our entertainment group. AMI has built an award-winning portfolio of celebrity brands second to none in the industry. Our leadership team will remain focused on growth, innovation and continued disruption with today’s changes designed to further reinforce our leading position in the publishing industry and foster remarkable storytelling across all of our brands and platforms.”

USA, New York, NY & Englewood Cliffs, NJ

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Discovery Communications Inc. completes acquisition of Scripps Networks interactive to create Discovery, Inc.

March 6, 2018 — Fusion DigiNet

Discovery Communications IncDiscovery Communications has completed its acquisition of Scripps Networks Interactive, with the combined company to be officially known as Discovery, Inc.

Scripps Networks Interactive is a leading developer of lifestyle-content for television and the Internet. The company’s brands includes HGTV, Food Network, Travel Channel, DIY Network, Cooking Channel and country music network Great American Country.

Scripps shareholders will receive approximately $90 per share, consisting of $65.82 per share in cash and 1.0584 per share in Series C Common shares of Discovery stock valued based on a volume weighted average price (subject to elections and proration), in each case in accordance with the terms of the merger agreement. This includes a cash payment of $2.82 per share in connection with Discovery’s previously announced decision to exercise in full the cash top-up option under the merger agreement.

The acquisition is expected to be accretive to adjusted earnings per share and to free cash flow in the first year after closing, including significant cost synergies. The combination is expected to create a strong economic model with capacity for rapid debt repayment and a clear runway for growth and value creation.

Kenneth W. Lowe, former Chairman, President & CEO of Scripps Networks Interactive, will join Discovery’s board of directors, effective immediately.

David Zaslav, President and Chief Executive Officer for Discovery, said, “Today marks another critical milestone for Discovery, as we become a differentiated kind of media company with the most trusted portfolio of family-friendly brands around the globe. As a new global leader in real life entertainment, Discovery will serve loyal and passionate audiences around the world with content that inspires, informs and entertains across every screen; deliver new ways for advertisers and distributors to reach highly targeted audiences at scale; and leverage our leadership position to create new value and growth opportunities for all of our stakeholders.”

USA, Silver Spring, MD & Knoxville, TN

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Hearst UK acquires wellbeing events and watch brands from Telegraph Media Group

February 13, 2018 — Fusion DigiNet

Hearst UKPublisher Hearst UK has agreed a deal with Telegraph Events to acquire Be:FIT, the UK’s largest and leading fitness and wellbeing festival for women, Salon QP, the UK’s premier luxury watch fair and QP Magazine, the UK’s leading luxury watch magazine. The deal is part of Hearst UK’s strategic commitment to grow and diversify revenues. The terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Be:FIT, Salon QP and QP Magazine will join a portfolio of brands and events targeting consumers interested in luxury and health & wellness from titles such as Women’s Health, Men’s Health, Esquire, Harper’s Bazaar and ELLE to events such as Esquire Townhouse, Cosmopolitan Self Made and Country Living Fairs.

Victoria Archbold, Managing Director of Events and Sponsorship at Hearst Live, said: “This deal plays to the strengths of our brands and is a perfect fit for our publishing and events business. We are seeing unprecedented growth in experiential events – our attendance levels doubled last year primarily because our consumers are so engaged in our brands and those we choose to work with. From a commercial perspective, we have created successful collaborations with a number of like-minded brands that have delivered a great return on investment. Expanding our events portfolio will enable us to create more of these brand partnership platforms.”

UK, London

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Hearst completes acquisition of Rodale magazine and book businesses

January 9, 2018 — Fusion DigiNet

HearstThe publisher Hearst has finalised the acquisition of global health and wellness content company Rodale’s magazine and book businesses, announced in October 2017. The terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

With 93 editions in 64 countries, Rodale is credited with having launched the organic movement in the U.S. in 1942, and publishes many established health and wellness lifestyle brands, including Men’s Health, Women’s Health, Prevention, Rodale’s Organic Life, Runner’s World and Bicycling. Rodale Books is known for conversation-changing titles including Former Vice President Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth, Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz’s Onward and Dave Asprey’s The Bulletproof Diet. Upon completion of the acquisition, Rodale’s multi-platform content business will be managed by Hearst Magazines, a unit of Hearst with more than 300 editions and websites around the world.

Hearst Magazines President David Carey said, “Maria Rodale has grown her family’s business into a peerless authority that reaches an enormous audience. Hearst and Rodale are already publishing partners around the world, including the U.K., the Netherlands and Japan, and we’ve seen first-hand how the content resonates. We are pleased to add them and all of Rodale’s brands to our vibrant and varied global portfolio, providing readers with dependable information and offering marketers unbeatable scale and a trustworthy environment in the increasingly important health and wellness space.”

United States, New York, NY & Emmaus, PA

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Essence Ventures acquires Essence Communications from Time Inc.

January 3, 2018 — Fusion DigiNet

EssenceEssence Ventures LLC, an independent African-American owned company focused on merging content, community and commerce, has acquired multi-platform media company Essence Communications Inc. from Time Inc. The terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

The all black female executive team of Essence, including Essence President Michelle Ebanks, will have an equity stake in the business, reestablishing Essence as a 100% black-owned independent company.

Since its founding in 1970, Essence has advocated women’s empowerment and the diverse images and lifestyles of black women. Today, Essence is an international, omni-channel destination for diverse storytelling and original content comprising beauty, fashion, lifestyle, entertainment and culture.

Essence currently reaches a global audience of more than 16 million across its various platforms encompassing its signature print magazine; digital, video and social platforms; television specials, and live events, including the annual Essence Festival, a cultural celebration that debuted in 1995 and is now one of the country’s largest annual events, attracting more than 450,000 attendees.

Richelieu Dennis, founder and chairperson of Essence Ventures, said “We are excited to be able to return this culturally relevant and historically significant platform to ownership by the people and the consumers whom it serves and offer new opportunities for the women leading the business to also be partners in the business. We remain committed to leveraging our resources to provide opportunities for other culturally-rooted entrepreneurs and businesses that further our culture and create economic opportunities for our communities.”

USA, New York, NY

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