Hearst pays £559million for Lagadere’s International Magazine Portfolio.

Hearst Corporation has paid £559 million for Lagadere’s Magazine portfolio which includes a licensing agreement for Fashion Magazine ‘Elle’. The offer includes the sale of 102 Hachette Filipachacci titles such as ‘Inside Soap’, ‘Red’ and ‘Psychologies’. The deal also covers titles in 15 countries, including the UK, USA, Russia, The Soviet Union, Italy, Spain, China and Germany.

The most interesting part of this whole partnership though is the licensing of ‘Elle’ magazine. Lagadere has granted a license to Hearst for ‘Elle’ that will apply to magazines and all digital and audiovisual supports. In the UK, Hachette Filipachacci’s titles will be housed alongside those of the Hearst owned National Magazine Company. This will consolidate former fashion competitors ‘Elle’ and ‘Harpers’ Bazaar’ and will be pitched against other premium fashion magazines including Conde Naste’s ‘Vogue’ and will allow Hearst to have the biggest international presence of any consumer magazine publisher.

This co-operation of brands has aroused much discussion and opinion within both the media and the fashion world. Many have been asking how this will affect the brands of ‘Harpers’ Bazaar’ and ‘Elle’ and how will the takeover affect other high fashion and high society magazines like’ Vogue’, ‘Vanity Fair’ or ‘Glamour’. Media insiders, however, suggest that it might not have any effect at all and the competition will remain the same amongst the titles regardless of who the owner is. All the reader cares about is the content of the magazine. Ultimately both of the titles have strong established brands targeting different sections of the same interest market. Nicholas Coleridge, the MD at Conde Nast, speaking to Media Week, is not “anticipating any negative effect”. Both ‘Elle’ and ‘Harpers Bazaar’ are number 2 and 3 in the market and this will remain the same. People will not change allegiance just because the two are now batting for the same economic team. There is no talk of the publishers looking to ‘reinvent’ or change the titles in any way and, chances are that the readers won’t even be aware of a takeover, unless there is a price hike or the content changes.

Fashion aside, the biggest effect this acquisition will have is on Nat Mags & Hachette Filipacchi themselves; with a broader portfolio of well established titles this will mean the trading of advertising space will become easier. It will make the flow of conversation, planning and buying a lot swifter with one less buying point. The opportunities of cross selling will be vast for all the magazines and will no doubt only make the brands stronger and more integrated with time. However the main issue (in the short term) is the same with the advertiser as it is with the reader. Advertisers base their planning choices on the quality of the magazine and the relevancy of the readership, if this was to change then reconsiderations will be made, however until any evidence of any changes surface the high glossy, consumer magazine world will probably just continue to sashay along as usual!