NEWS from

Hearst Corporation
300 W. 57th St. New York, NY 10019 www.hearst.com Laura Russo (732) 754-9507 Russola@dukes.jmu.edu

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

HEARST CORPORATION ACQUIRES LAGARDERE'S MAGAZINE

NEW YORK, NYHearst Corporation made an $883 million business venture and took over international magazine business Lagardres. This binding cash offer was made on Jan. 31 after a month of negotiations.

By acquiring the international French business Hearst corporation will now become the owners of 102 new magazine titles available throughout various countries such as, U.S., Russia, Italy, U.K., China, Japan, Czech Republic, Hong Kong, Canada, and Germany. This now gives Hearst Corporation more power in their business and appeal to advertisers. Magazines are going to be a part of our future as far as the eye can see, said Frank A. Bennack Jr., Hearsts chief executive.

Encompassed within those 102 titles there includes popular magazines like, ELLE, one of the top selling womans magazine, distributed in 15 countries. However, Lagardre will keep the rights to the French edition of ELLE. Other titles include Womans Day, Car and Driver, Road & Track and Cycle World just in the United States. Publication rights have also been given for monthly and weekly titles in the U.K. and Holland. Along with these magazine titles Hearst has taken over Lagardres digital operations, including its 50 websites. ((MORE))

HEARST2 This would make Hearst the second-largest domestic magazine company and greatly expand its international footprint. says, Jeremy w. Peters and Eric Pfanner of the New York Times. With the Lagardre magazines included, Hearst would have brought in $3.5 billion in ad revenue last year, expanding their business further.

Lagardre is an international business much like Hearst corporations; it includes four sectors of business. These four sections include: Lagardre Publishing: Book and e-publishing. Lagardre Active: Media, Broadcasting (Radio, Television, Media Production), and Digital Advertising network. Lagardre Services: Retail and Distribution release. Lagardre Unlimited: Sport and Entertainment. Now currently directed by Arnaud Lagardre and operates in over 40 countries. The Lagardre Active sector was acquired by Hearst corporations due to its inability to compete in the United States and other markets. This was due to its recent drop in ad revenue. Hearst Corporation is one of the nations largest media companies. The corporation includes markets in, magazines, newspapers, television, and web businesses. It owns 15 daily and 38 weekly newspapers and more than 200 magazines. Some of these titles include the Houston Chronicle, San Francisco Chronicle, Good Housekeeping, and Cosmopolitan. Its television stations comprise some of the top networks and reach a combined 18 percent of U.S. viewers.

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