Conde Nast reorganisation prompts sale talk; Apple, Hearst, Google and Vice Media possible bidders - report
28 JAN 2017
Conde Nast is to undergo a reorganisation that has prompted talk that the New York City-based magazine publisher is about to be put up for sale, The Times reported. There have been rumours for several months that Conde Nast’s owner, Advance Publications Inc., is working on a sale, the item said, without citing a source for the speculation.
It is thought that Conde Nast could attract offers from rival publisher HearstCorporation , the publisher of Elle magazine; the internet search company Google [NASDAQ:GOOGL]; Apple Inc. [NASDAQ:AAPL], a computer company; or Vice Media Inc., an online news media company, according to the report.
Conde Nast’s chief business officer Jim Norton said in an internal memo yesterday, 27 January that the commercial side of the company’s US division will be completely reorganised. Three heads of publishing are to step down, the item added.
The report also noted that the editor in chief of the UK edition of Conde Nast’s Vogue magazine Alexandra Schulman announced this week that she will be leaving the company. Speculation of conflict between Schulman and her counterpart at American Vogue, Anna Wintour, was denied by both sides, the article added.
Conde Nast’s UK Managing Director Nicholas Coleridge has already announced that he will resign his position in August, the item noted.
Background:
A Wall Street Journal report dated 15 September 2015 said the Newhouse family owns Advance Publications, Inc.