Conde Nast Purchases Assets of YM Magazine

Posted on October 22, 2004

Conde Nast Publications has purchased certain assets of YM magazine, which is currently published by Gruner & Jahr, it was announced by Charles H. Townsend, President and C.E.O. of Conde Nast. Among the assets are YM's subscription file, its title and brand name, the rights to YM's special publication titles, the YM domain name (ym.com), and the magazine's newsstand pockets. Conde Nast plans to close YM and transfer subscribers to its Teen Vogue title.

The last issue of YM will be its December/January issue. All 1.2 million YM subscribers will begin receiving Teen Vogue with the February, 2005 issue. Teen Vogue announced last month that in February its rate base was rising to 650,000. It will now increase to 850,000, effective with the February, 2005 issue.

"We are delighted to make a key acquisition that fits perfectly into our growth plans for Teen Vogue and our position in the teen category of special interest magazines," Townsend said. "The performance of Teen Vogue to date has been extremely strong and this purchase underscores our confidence in the future of this category."

Teen Vogue was launched in January, 2003, in a Euro-sized format. The magazine publishes ten issues a year; it launched with an initial rate base of 450,000.

"This acquisition is a once-in-a lifetime opportunity to target a new group of teen readers with our distinctive editorial point of view," Gina Sanders, Teen Vogue's Vice President and Publisher, said. "We anticipate that we will retain as subscribers those fashion-savvy readers for whom Teen Vogue quickly becomes essential."