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NEW YORK (AFX) - Magazine publisher Time Inc. said Thursday it is selling 18 of its smaller titles including Popular Science, Field & Stream and Parenting to Swedish publisher Bonnier Magazine Group.
The sale marked the latest effort by the magazine company to restructure its business and adapt as readers and advertisers increasingly look to the Internet for news, entertainment and information.
Time Inc. originally put the magazines up for sale last fall, and the sale had been widely expected. The sale price was between $220 million and $230 million, according to two people familiar with the transaction who spoke on condition of anonymity because the financial terms have not been officially disclosed.
The 18 titles are part of Time's Parenting group and Time4Media. Time Inc. is part of the media and entertainment conglomerate Time Warner Inc.
Bonnier is acquiring the 18 magazines from Time Inc. and intends to combine them with the 20 magazines held by World Publications, a company in which Bonnier owns a 49 percent stake. World's magazines include Spa, Saveur, and Islands. The combined company would become a major U.S. magazine publisher with annual revenue of more than $350 million.
Time said all of its editorial staff will remain at their current offices, primarily in New York, California and Colorado.
Like other magazine publishers, Time Inc. has been struggling amid the rapid changes occurring in reading habits and advertising spending as the Internet comes into its own as an advertising medium.
Time Inc. reported a 5.9 percent decline in profits for the nine-month period ending last September compared with the same period a year ago, as revenues slipped 0.6 percent.
The company has also sold off a book publishing division and said last week that it would eliminate nearly 300 jobs across its entire company. As part of those cuts, Time Inc.'s flagship publication, Time, will close its bureaus in Atlanta, Chicago and Los Angeles, although three correspondents will remain in Los Angeles and work from their homes.
The acquisition is subject to regulatory approval.
The family-owned Bonnier Group has been a dominant presence in Swedish media for decades. It owns Sweden's largest morning daily, Dagens Nyheter, the country's largest business paper, and several other newspapers. It also owns Sweden's largest chain of movie theaters.
Shares of Time Warner lost 4 cents to $22.49 in midday trading on the New York Stock Exchange.
AP Business Writers Michelle Chapman and Peter Svensson contributed to this story. Copyright 2006 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be
Copyright 2007 AFX News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
