Active Interest Media, run by former Times Mirror CFO Efrem Zimbalist III, Time4 Media SVP Andy Clurman and former DC Shoes and Transworld Media CEO Brian Sellstrom, announced today that they have purchased Ski Magazine, Skiing Magazine, and Warren Miller Entertainment from Transworld parent company Bonnier Corp. for an undisclosed amount according to a story in AdAge.com.
The magazines’ print business has diminished since Bonnier bought them from Time Inc. in 2007 as part of a $225 million deal for 18 enthusiast magazines. . . Ad pages fell 33.7% at Ski magazine last year, a steeper drop than the 8.2% decline across magazines as a whole, according to the Publishers Information Bureau. . . The deal, terms of which were not disclosed, also includes the rest of the company’s Mountain Group in Boulder, Colo.; . . . and Nastar, a recreational ski and snowboard racing program.
As one action media professional told old us on hearing the news: “Publishers have been using the “buy high sell low” method for the last dozen or so years.” And we’re guessing that trend is going to continue. It is odd, however, that Bonnier didn’t throw Transworld Media in with the purchase, but they probably believe they can milk a few more years of revenue out of the action sports industry before they need to dump it.
[Editors’ Note: We assumed everyone would know, but the previously unwritten irony here is that Times Mirror used to own both magazines and Clurman and Sellstrom used to run them. So yeah, they’re runnin’ their tread mill after you, their runnin’ their tread mill now.]
[Link: AdAge.com]
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