Torstar affirms faith in print with takeover of full control of Metro newspaper chain

Torstar Corp., the parent company of the Toronto Star, has purchased virtually full control of Metro, the free weekday newspaper distributed in cities across Canada. Torstar announced the terms of the deal after markets closed Friday. It paid its partner Metro International SA of Sweden $51.5 million for 80% of its 50% share in the Free Daily News Group; Torstar now owns 90% of the business.

Shoppers shifts contract publishing of Glow magazine from Rogers to St. Joes

It is a version of the circle game, we suppose. It has been announced that Glow magazine, the beauty, health and lifestyle magazine produced on behalf of Shoppers Drug Mart by Rogers Publishing is now to be contract-published by rival St. Joseph Media. This was reported by Marketing magazine.Glow, an 8-times-a-year title which has a circulation of 360,000, has been published by Rogers for the

BBC Worldwide sells off 34 magazine titles and all but exits the business

In a complicated deal that has taken many months to come to fruition, BBC Worldwide has sold off its portfolio of 34 magazine titles and is mostly exiting the magazine business. The deal with Exponent Private Equity LLP, is for £121m and involves taking over all the non-BBC-branded magazines (such as Radio Times) outright and publishing BBC-branded titles such as Top Gear under a contract

Giant swap, still subject to approval, sees Transcontinental take over former Quebecor World printing plants

Canada's largest printer, Transcontinental Inc. (which is also the country's largest publisher of consumer magazines) just got a whole lot bigger as it has conducted a huge swap with U.S.-based Quad/Graphics for the assets Q/G took over from the troubled former printing giant Worldcolor Press (formerly Quebecor World). Quad/Graphics retained only a Vancouver plant to service its U.S. Pacific

Torstar's Star Media Group buys startup digital beauty magazine The Kit

The Kit, a startup digital beauty and wellness magazine created by former St. Joseph Media staff has been purchased by Star Media Group (Toronto Star).“We searched diligently for the best women’s lifestyle play for our audiences and advertisers,” Edward Greenspon, vice president of business development for Star Media Group and the Toronto Star, said in a release. “We liked what we saw in The

Hearst assumes partnership share with Transcon in ELLE Canada and ELLE Québec

Pleased to partner with Hearst
The takeover by Hearst Corporation of the international magazine businesses of Lagardère has also necessitated a change of name and relationship with Canada's Transcontinental Media Inc. Hearst acquired a 49% interest in Les Publications Transcontinental-Hachette Inc as part of the overall acquisition. The company was a joint venture of Transcontinental Media and

Hearst purchase of Lagardère international titles said to be imminent

The betting in U.S. media circles is that this week or next will see the announcement of a deal whereby Hearst Magazines Inc. will buy Lagardère SCA's international magazine business including its U.S. distribution and publishing arm,  Hachette Filipacchi  Media.  It would thereby have control of such major front rack titles (including on Canadian newsstands) as Elle, Elle Decor, Woman’s Day and

Groupon, just discovered by Canadian publishers, said to be bought by Google

[This post has been updated]Just as magazine publishers in Canada have cottoned onto the joys of couponing, the company that provides the service, Groupon, has beenhas been reported to have been purchased by Google for a reported $2.5 billion. Recently B. C. Business and This magazine both did one-day subscription offers, apparently very successfully, using the online couponing service's huge

Rogers Media buys internet advertising network BV! Media for $25 million

Rogers Media is gaining access to more than 400 online publishers and a potential audience of 15 million unique visitors a month with its purchase of BV! Media, a Quebec-based internet advertising network. According to a story from the Canadian Press, the friendly deal was for $25 million in cash, or about 40 cents a share. BV! is publisher of the news and information portal Branchez-Vous! Claude

Giant Quad/Graphics Inc. buys Montreal-based Worldcolor Press

[This post has been updated] Quad/Graphics Inc, has agreed to buy magazine printer Worldcolor Press Inc. of Canada, which prints magazines such as Time and Cosmopolitan.The sale price is about $1.3 billion. According to a story published on Bloomberg.com, the merged company, which will be publicly traded, will have 30,000 employees and combined sales of $5.1 billion.

Joel Quadracci, Quad/

National Post CEO Godfrey likely to lead buyout of Canwest papers

[This post has been updated.] National Post chief executive officer Paul Godfrey has apparently lined up sufficient private equity backers to make a bid for all, or some, of the CanWest papers when they are put on the market, probably by the end of the year.According to a story by Andrew Willis in the Globe and Mail Godfrey -- who led a very profitable management buyout of the Sun newspaper chain

Vibe magazine revived under new ownership

Vibe magazine, which recently folded, has been bought by Uptown Media Group in partnership with private equity firm InterMedia Partners and Blackrock Digital, the company which formerly handled digital sales for Vibe.com, according to a story in Folio:. The plan is to relaunch Vibe.com immediately as the "centrepiece of the new venture". The print edition of Vibe will relaunch with a November/

Zoomer magazine and media empire grows with takeover of Vision TV

The empire of Moses Znaimer, publisher of Zoomer Magazine and proprietor of Zoomer Media, just got bigger with the announced aquisition of Vision TV, its digital specialty channel ONE: Mind & Spirit and two JoyTV specialty channels in Winnipeg.Zoomer has agreed to pay $25 million for the television enterprise, including all the shares of Christian Channel Inc. and of Vision TV Digital Inc. The

Transcon buys Redwood Custom Communications

[This post has been updated] Montreal-based Transcontinental Inc. has acquired Canada's largest custom publisher, Toronto-based Redwood Custom Communications.François Olivier, president and cIhief executive officer at Transcontinental, says his company's main goal is to aid customers in reaching and retaining their target audiences, and that Redwood is at the frontier between traditional

Rogers sells Ontario Out of Doors to Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters

Rogers Publishing has sold Ontario Out of Doors magazine to Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters. The magazine has been closely associated with OFAH and the magazine is said to be going to carry on with much the same management team, according to a memorandum to staff from Marc Blondeau, Senior Vice-President, Consumer Publishing.Originally founded in 1969, OOD was purchased by Maclean

Lush magazine acquired by digital signage company

Bassett Publishing, a newly formed division of a company whose principal business is in digital signage, has acquired Lush magazine (and says it plans to launch a second title this spring called Argyle aimed at "elite corporate executives.")The parent company, the Bassett Media Group specializes in out-of-home digital advertising and its group includes Impulse Media (40 screens in Rexall Pharama

Oilfield publishing merger inked as JuneWarren bought out by Glacier

Two major oil industry publishing groups are to be merged with the 100% purchase of the JuneWarren Publishing by GVIC Communications Corp. for an undisclosed combination of cash and shares.(GVIC used to be called Glacier International Ventures Corporation; it is a former bottled water company that transformed itself into an information and communications company and it became a major media player

Canadian Food Safety magazine purchased by MediaEDGE

Controlling interest in Canadian Food Safety Magazine has been purchased by MediaEDGE Communications of Toronto.The quarterly trade magazine serves the Canadian food safety industry -- suppliers, growers, packers, foodservice, hospitality, food processing, warehousing and distribution, retail, packaging and equipment manufacturers, healthcare, government regulators, auditors and inspectors,

TVA Publications acquires pets magazine

A Quebec company that publishes French language pet magazine Animal and Animal Coast to Coast has been acquired by TVA Publications. The company, Animal Hebdo Inc.,was created by Johanne Rivetand France Philippon in 1998 and also publishes the website magazineanimal.com. Animal states that it has 72,000 readers and has a circulation of about 20,000, of which approximately 5,000 are paid

Osprey Media Income Fund still in play and the price keeps going up

The sale of newspaper and magazine company Osprey Media Income Fund looked like a slam dunk for Quebecor Media, leaving a bruised Torstar group sulking in the corner. Torstar and Quebecor have been squabbling about who did what to whom and about whether or not they had a deal to split up the Osprey properties, which include well-known dailies like the St. Catharines Standard and the Kingston