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Primedia buys Modified, puts enthusiast title
Thursday Feb 15, 2007 09:44:00 AM
This is a re-print from the SEMA eNews, Vol. 10, No. 6 - February 14, 2007
AUTOMOTIVE ENTHUSIAST MAGAZINE LANDSCAPE CHANGING
Primedia buys Modified, puts enthusiast titles up for sale.
Primedia, publisher of “buff book” magazines such as Motor Trend, Automobile and Hot Rod, announced Friday its intention to sell off its Enthusiast Group of magazines, websites and associated events. The announcement came on the heels of Primedia’s purchase of VerticalScope, a Toronto-based company best known for publishing the enthusiast titles Modified, Modified Luxury & Exotics and Modified Mustangs.
Not including the Modified titles, Primedia’s Enthusiast Group encompasses 73 magazines (including non-automotive titles such as Surfer, Snowboarder, and Power & Motoryacht), 90 websites and 65 events (the latter including the popular Hot Rod Power Tour).
According to a story in the New York Post, a sale could fetch the company more than $1 billion. Industry watchers think it’s a reasonable figure given the Enthusiast Group’s $500 million revenue and cash flow in excess of $100 million in 2005. That kind of money would help pare down the company’s $1.3 billion debt and leave it with a slimmed-down publishing portfolio consisting only of consumer and apartment guides.
Industry veteran Kipp Kington has had a front seat for much of Primedia’s growth strategy over the last decade. Kington, president and CEO of marketing/advertising agency KTC Media Group, launched and grew Import Tuner and Turbo magazines before selling them to Primedia. He thinks the new buyer – whoever it is – should be successful with the titles – “if they bring ‘em in right and they don’t tear anything up.”
When asked if he still feels a connection to and worries about the future of the magazines he started, he admits that “you always [feel] a little something. I’d like to see Turbo with another 32 or 64 pages in it. Import Tuner appears to be doing OK.”
Anybody got a ton of cash so they can buy Super Street or any one of the tuner mags that primedia is selling?
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Posted By: Sik
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2007/02/21 04:38:45 PM |
| i have like 75 cents on it... n dibs on the k series motor tranny n ecu |
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