Guardian Media Group (GMG), owner of The Guardian and The Observer, has sold its majority stake in the AutoTrader group for about £850 million. This will give it a cash mountain of about £1 billion to keep the lights on for the expansion of both publications, on paper and online. Better than the EMAP investment Read More
Category: Death of print?
Page 2: The Times changes again — opinion after news
The Times today moved its leader columns/editorials back to a traditional place from page 2. Hold the front page? Not quite, but it’s important. It had moved the views of the leader writers to page 2. It had emphasised that the paper edition was about opinion. More like a magazine. Less like the website about Read More
London: home of free paper-based mags
Time Out London goes free tomorrow, Tuesday. The advertisers think 300,000 freely distributed in the core of London better than 55,000, and declining, paying for it. The first free issue will be 80 pages, up from the normal 72 to give space for more ads. Not that Time Out’s current website says so. Time Out Read More
Hearst learn game of digital subs
Buried in the detail of the latest ABCs for magazines was the interesting detail of digital subs. Hearst is the winner with 4 digital mags in the top 11. Conde Nast has 2, The Economist had 2: the continental Europe edition and the Asia Pacific edition. As for the paper editions, total circulation was down Read More
UBM: good numbers and strong words
There are good numbers and strong words from UMB this week. The good numbers are in the annual results: Revenue up 9.3%; Margins up 20.8% from 19.3%; More revenue from China than Europe; The strong words are from David Levin, chief executive since 2005, in The Daily Telegraph speaking before the results were out. Software Read More
Yell has a plan: is it enough?
Yell is a textbook case of the current times in publishing. Its poor results this week are a combination of risky acquisitions, mountains of debt and, yes, the flood of free information on the Internet. As long as yellow pages contained the only source of information for that plumber, that pizza joint and that dentist, Read More
EU probes e-book publishers and Apple
The EU is to formally investigate whether Apple and 5 European publishers are gouging the e-book market. Have they conspired to set prices and so rig the market, is the question. E-books more expensive than paper E-books are more expensive than paper editions, much to the surprise of many experts. Manufacture and distribution of paper Read More
Sunshine around the big cloud of Future
There are some rays of sunshine around the cloud of Future Publishing’s preliminary annual results. But the cloud is big: an £18 million pre-tax loss and no second dividend payment. Plus a £17.1 million impairment cost for the US business. $1 million a month from apps The largest ray of sunshine is the $1 million Read More
Hearst US shows the way to digital subs: 300,000 and counting
The very disappointing digital subscription figures from ABC for UK magazines in August may give the impression that content has to be free online. But news from Hearst in the USA shows that paid digital circulation on tablets and e-readers can work. Hearst US has over 300,000 paid digital subscribers for its digital versions of Read More
Centaur answers tough question
Centaur Media’s results for its full year show that swift if painful action can keep the ship of B2B magazine publishing not only afloat but sailing strongly. Some reports concentrated on the £30.3 million pre tax loss. That’s understandable. Closer look But a closer look shows a more healthy position at Centaur: revenues up 14%; Read More