Hearst to Buy Hachette Filipacchi?
Hearst is reportedly close to a deal to buy Hachette Filipacchi Media, publisher of Elle and Woman's Day, in a deal that would make Hearst easily the dominant publisher of American female-centric media.
Adweek reports that after months of talks, Hearst is "close to a deal" to buy Hachette from its French parent company, Lagardere Active. They say that ownership of Elle may come in the form of a partnership, because Lagardere's overseas editions share its contents. Still, the deal would allow Hearst to add Elle, Elle Decor, and Woman's Day to a stable of women's titles ("Gynozines," as Maureen O'Connor calls them) that already includes Cosmopolitan, Marie Claire, Harper's Bazaar, Redbook, Seventeen, O magazine, Country Living, Good Housekeeping, and more.
That's a middlebrow juggernaut in the making. Hachette also comes with Car and Driver, Road and Track, and Cycle World magazines. Which, I guess, could keep Esquire company at Hearst, give it someone to talk cars with (and babes!). This deal was presumably launched under Cathie Black's leadership at Hearst, but if completed it would be David Carey's first big move as head of the company.
