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Business News Deals Media
Metal Hammer owner buys Music Week publisher
By Chris Cooke | Published on Thursday 5 April 2018
Magazine publisher Future, which owns music titles like Metal Hammer and Classic Rock and a bunch of instrument-centric publications, has acquired business media company Newbay Media which, among other things, owns music industry trade mag Music Week.
Confirming the purchase yesterday, Future said the deal was worth up to £13.65 million. That includes an initial cash payment of £8.62 million and £1.09 million of shares, with a second payment of up to £3.94 million next January depending on the future performance of the acquired titles.
Future said that the deal would expand its reach into the US market, as well as bringing it “B2B titles in the complementary verticals of audio visual, television broadcasting and educational technology, which will further increase Future’s revenue diversification model whilst also bringing B2B expertise to Future’s existing titles”. Fun times.
Actually, it’s more of a re-expansion into the US market. NewBay acquired Future’s US division in 2012. One of the titles in that deal, Revolver, was sold on again last year, but the deal will see the Guitar World and Guitar Aficionado brands return to the Future business.
The Newbay deal also follows an announcement last month that Future is acquiring five titles from Haymarket Media Group, including What HiFi and Stuff magazine.
It also recently relaunched the online hub for its rock magazines as Louder, it previously having operated under the TeamRock brand. That stemmed from the period when Metal Hammer and Classic Rock were independently owned by a standalone business called TeamRock. Future sold the rock mags to start-up TeamRock and then bought them back when that company collapsed.
Confirming the Newbay acquisition, Future boss Zillah Byng-Thorne said yesterday: “Newbay is clearly aligned with Future in its mission to create content that connects, with market leading titles. This acquisition strengthens our presence in the US, and together with our recent UK acquisition expands our market leadership in music and consumer electronics”.
