May 2013

Grind Media’s Senior Vice President and Group Publisher Norb Garrett is driving North on I-5 from Carlsbad back to the office in San Clemente, California. He’s riding in the passenger seat of a Honda that is nearly out of gas when we finally catch him on the phone.

We know the car is running on empty because twice during the call he interrupts to ask the driver if they are going to make it. Being stranded by the side of the road in Southern California’s last bit of undeveloped wilderness would be a crazy way to finish off what has likely been a long day for Garrett, but as usual, he doesn’t seem too worried.

Earlier today (May 20, 2013) Grind Media announced to employees and later to the press that they had purchased their number one long-time competitor Transworld Media (publisher of Transworld Skateboarding, Transworld Snowboarding, Transworld Surf, Transworld BMX, Transworld Motocross, and Transworld Business). The deal has made Grind the “largest action sports media company in the world.” This is obviously a big deal in our world, especially in an era when some (okay, us) would argue that investing in print media brands is a pretty bad idea. Garrett, however, is quick to correct us and state that today’s transaction was not a “magazine” purchase.

“We didn’t buy print assets,” he says. “We bought great brands. What we’re attempting to do is leverage these brands and the quality content that they produce to help us play a more important role in growing our markets, engaging our audience, helping our advertisers grow their businesses, and luring new advertising to take advantage of the scale.”
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The action sports media chickens have finally come home to one big Southern California roost as we’re getting reports that Source Interlink’s action sports, adventure, and lifestyle group Grind Media a.k.a. Surfer, Surfing, Snowboarder, has purchased Transworld Media (all the titles except Wakeboarding) from the Florida based Bonnier Corp while at the same time selling them nine motorcycle magazines (according to a post on Media Bistro) including Motorcyclist, Sport Rider, Dirt Rider, Motorcycle Cruiser, Hot Bike, Baggers, Super Streetbike, Street Chopper and ATV Rider. It looks more like a title swap than anything else.

Bonnier CEO Dave Freygang was in Transworld’s Carlsbad, California offices this morning (May 20, 2013) along with Grind Media Senior Vice President, Group Publisher Norb Garrett to communicate the changes in store for the company.

Just last week Freygang was quoted in Folio as saying that Bonnier’s previous title offloadings “should not be taken as the dismantling of the company.” And, to be fair, this latest transaction resulted in a net gain of two magazine titles for Bonnier.

The question that on many people’s minds is what will Source do with the titles. Transworld Motocross would be a great addition, and Transworld BMX could be a good fit as well. The organizational fun will come with the board sports magazines. Source now owns Surf, Surfer, and Surfing, along with Skateboarder and Skateboarding, and Snowboarder and Snowboarding. Figuring out how all those brands sort out could take a while, or, sadly take no time at all. Currently, it appears that Grind Media has no plans to change much at Transworld. But to keep running the magazines as they are.

As for Transworld Media, this is just one more sale for a publishing company that has remained surprisingly resilient through five changes in ownership in the last 18 years (today’s announcement makes it six).

If you have an opinion, be sure to vote in Yobeat.com’s What Should Grind Media Do? poll right here.

Follow the jump for the official word from Grind Media.

[Editors’ Note: The details of this story will be continually updated as our information improves. We apologize in advance.]

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