By Kevin McCauley
Hearst Corp. today announced that it has made a binding cash offer of $890M to acquire more than 100 magazine titles from France's Lagardere.
The titles include Woman's Day, Car and Driver, Road & Track, Cycle World and the non-French editions of Elle. They generate more than $1B in annual revenues and profit in the $65M range.
Hearst and Lagardere began negotiations to acquire the magazines on Dec. 31. The deal is expected to close during the third quarter.
Arnaud Lagardere, CEO, says his he made the deal because his company lacked the scale to compete in the U.S. The divested magazines also sell in the U.K., Spain, Italy, Netherlands, Germany, Czech Republic, Russia, Ukraine, China, Taiwan, Japan, Mexico and Canada.
Hearst's magazines include Cosmopolitan, Esquire, Good Housekeeping, O, The Oprah Magazine, Town & Country, Seventeen, Marie Claire and Harper's Bazaar.
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