After a year that began with her company's namesake in jail and its flagship magazine's print advertising in a dramatic freefall; and ended with an equally dramatic turnaround; Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia president and CEO Susan Lyne says that she can finally put to rest the question of the company's survival.
The shuffling continues at Time Inc., where Thomas Beusse has been named president of Time4 Media. Beusse, who had most recently been president of magazine publishing at Rodale, succeeds Mark Ford, who was named president of Sports Illustrated in December. Ziff Davis appointed Georganne Rossi to director, list sales. She most recently served as VP of list management at Direct Media, Inc.
VNU, the Netherlands-based global media company, has received a buy-out offer from a consortium of private equity firms for EUR 28.00 to 28.50 per share, or about $8.8 billion, the company announced today. The private equity group includes AlpInvest Partners, The Blackstone Group, The Carlyle Group, Hellman & Freidman, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co., Permira and Thomas H. Lee Partners.
The magazine industry's two most powerful associations;The Magazine Publishers of America and American Business Media, its trade publishing equivalent;together spend close to $800,000 a year on lobbying efforts, representatives from the two associations say.
Game On, Over
Game On, Over
Against a splattered backdrop of product placement and increasing pressure from advertisers to blur the lines between advertising and editorial, a survey of high-ranking editors at 157 trade publications reveals "a serious concern" about the ethical environment in which those editors operate.
Looking to capitalize on growing custom publishing expenditures and consumer acceptance of them, National Geographic is partnering with The Magazine Group for GeoGroup Media, a custom publishing outpost that plans to focus on custom projects that promote corporate social responsibility.
Magazine and event auditing body BPA Worldwide yesterday announced a set of amended rules to clarify some of the industry's buzziest;and blurriest;areas of circulation: digital magazines, consumer sponsored and public place copies.
The final advertising performance numbers for consumer magazines from the Publishers Information Bureau are in: PIB advertising revenue for rate-card reported magazines closed at $23.1 billion, an increase of 7.2 percent over 2004. Ad pages, however, gained a half a percent.
