Press release: NEW YORK, October 18, 2017 – Hearst and Rodale Inc. announced today that Hearst has agreed to acquire the magazine and book businesses of Rodale, a global health and wellness content company based in New York and Emmaus, Pennsylvania.
The announcement was made by Hearst President and CEO Steven R. Swartz, Rodale CEO Maria Rodale and Hearst Magazines President David Carey. The transaction is expected to close in early 2018, following receipt of necessary government approvals. Terms were not disclosed.
With 93 editions in 64 countries, Rodale publishes the largest, most established health and wellness lifestyle brands, including Men’s Health, Women’s Health, Prevention, Rodale’s Organic Life, Runner’s World and Bicycling, while Rodale Books is known for conversation-changing titles including Former Vice President Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth, Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz’s Onward and Dave Asprey’s The Bulletproof Diet. The division’s highly successful series include Thug Kitchen, Wheat Belly and The South Beach Diet.
Upon completion of the acquisition, Rodale’s multi-platform content business will be managed by Hearst Magazines, a unit of Hearst with more than 300 editions and websites around the world, including 20 titles in the U.S.
Commenting on the announcement, Carey said: “Maria Rodale has grown her family’s business into a peerless authority that reaches an enormous audience. Hearst and Rodale are already publishing partners around the world, including the U.K., the Netherlands and Japan, and we’ve seen first-hand how the content resonates. We are pleased to add them and all of Rodale’s brands to our vibrant and varied global portfolio, providing readers with dependable information and offering marketers unbeatable scale and a trustworthy environment in the increasingly important health and wellness space.”
Maria Rodale said: “We have a long-standing respect for Hearst’s commitment to connecting consumers with imaginative, engaging content across an ever-diversifying choice of platforms, technologies and experiences around the world. We believe our exceptional brands, businesses and employees will thrive in this culture of innovation and we are confident that Hearst’s stewardship will continue to grow the passionate and purpose-driven communities that Rodale has built over the past 70 years.”
Allen & Company LLC acted as financial advisor to Rodale in its sale and Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz acted as legal advisor.
About Hearst
Hearst is one of the nation’s largest diversified media, information and services companies with more than 360 businesses. Its major interests include ownership in cable television networks such as A&E, HISTORY, Lifetime and ESPN; majority ownership of global ratings agency Fitch Group; Hearst Health, a group of medical information and services businesses; 30 television stations such as WCVB-TV in Boston and KCRA-TV in Sacramento, Calif., which reach a combined 19 percent of U.S. viewers; newspapers such as the Houston Chronicle, San Francisco Chronicle and Albany Times Union, nearly 300 magazines around the world including Cosmopolitan, ELLE, Harper’s BAZAAR and Car and Driver; digital services businesses such as iCrossing and KUBRA; and investments in emerging digital and video companies such as BuzzFeed, Vice, Complex Networks and AwesomenessTV. Follow us on Twitter @HearstLive and @Hearst, and subscribe to Hearstlink. Follow Hearst President and CEO Steven R. Swartz on LinkedIn and watch him on CNBC.
About Hearst Magazines
With 20 titles in the U.S., Hearst is the largest publisher of monthly magazines with a total paid circulation of nearly 30 million (AAM 1H 2017). Hearst Magazines’ print and digital assets reach nearly 123 million readers and site visitors each month–nearly two-thirds of all women and millennial women in the country (source: 2017 comScore Multi-Platform // GfK MRI Media + Fusion (06-17/F16)). The company publishes close to 300 editions and 200 websites around the world, and operates iCrossing, a global, full-service digital marketing agency, and business process provider CDS Global. Hearst Magazines holds a majority stake in KUBRA, a customer experience management solutions company, and is a partner with Condé Nast in the publishing services company PubWorX.
About Rodale
Rodale Inc. is a global health and wellness content company based in Emmaus, Pennsylvania, and New York. Known for launching the organic movement in the U.S. in 1942, the company operates today with a mission to “inspire health, healing, happiness and love in the world. Starting with you.” Home to a broad portfolio of best-in-class brands, Rodale engages more than 100 million people globally through an array of products and services that include magazines, books, online, mobile, e-commerce, direct-to-consumer, social, video and events. With 100 editions in 67 countries, Rodale publishes the largest, most established health and wellness lifestyle brands, including Men’s Health, Prevention, Women’s Health, Runner’s World, Bicycling and Rodale’s Organic Life. Rodale Books is the premier destination for wellness content with a purpose, publishing conversation-changing titles that include Jessica Alba’s The Honest Life, Alicia Silverstone’s The Kind Diet, Former Vice President Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth, Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz’s Onward, Maria Rodale’s Organic Manifesto and Scratch and Dave Asprey’s The Bulletproof Diet. The Rodale Books website, RodaleWellness.com, is a content and community hub where visitors can find inspiration and information from the world’s top wellness experts. Rodale also produces numerous branded experiences that draw more than 100,000 participants annually.