News Corp. (NWS) unit Dow Jones & Co. agreed Tuesday to buy
the half of personal-finance magazine SmartMoney it didn't own from
partner Hearst Corp.
Dow Jones, which also publishes this newswire and the Wall
Street Journal, didn't disclose financial terms of the deal.
President Todd Larsen called the magazine "a natural fit" within
the company.
"Having the SmartMoney franchise 100% integrated with the Dow
Jones and Wall Street Journal teams will provide the avenues for
the brand to grow exponentially," he said.
Hearst President Cathleen P. Black said the company was certain
SmartMoney will continue to thrive under the new ownership
structure, and Hearst has enjoyed its relationship with Dow Jones
in the nearly 20 years since the magazine launched.
SmartMoney includes the namesake monthly magazine, Web site
SmartMoney.com and a custom-publishing division. Hearst oversaw
business operations such as circulation and marketing, and Dow
Jones was responsible for editorial operations. It has a print and
online audience of nearly 6 million.
SmartMoney's circulation has held relatively steady in recent
years, but the number of pages of advertising dropped 23% in 2009
from the year before, according to the Publishers Information
Bureau. Ad revenue throughout the magazine industry and the print
media business at large have dropped in recent years, first from
migration of ad dollars to the Web and then from the recession's
stranglehold on companies' ad budgets.
Tuesday, Larsen was optimistic about readership prospects at
SmartMoney, saying economic uncertainty is fueling many readers to
seek out long-term guidance on managing a variety of personal
finance issues.
"The need for high-quality content in this space has never been
greater," he said.
News Corp. shares closed Monday at $16.16 and weren't active
premarket. The stock has more than doubled in the past year, after
hitting a 16-year low in March of last year.
-By Joan E. Solsman, Dow Jones Newswires; 212-416-2291;
joan.solsman@dowjones.com