Deals

The London-based art and fashion magazine will arrive as the 12th digital channel in the Vice Media portfolio

Johnston Press has sold off three newspapers covering the Isle of Man to rivals Tindle Newspapers in a deal worth £4.25m. Set to change ownership are The Isle of Man Examiner and the Isle of Man Courier, both established in the 1880s, and the Manx Independent, founded in 1987

Hibert Publishing has sold Colorado Parent and Westchester Family in two separate deals that owner Gary Hibert said likely mean the end for the company he’s run since Nov. 2012. Parties close to the deals declined to share the terms of sale. Westchester Family, five ancillary publications, and its website were acquired by Community News Group (CNG), a publisher of New York-based magazines and newspapers. The monthly magazine has a circulation of 35,000 and will retain most of its staff

WPP announces that it has agreed to make a strategic investment in All Def Digital, Inc. (“ADD”), a digital media company founded by hip-hop impresario Russell Simmons, in the US. ADD’s clients include NBC Universal and Samsung. The company was founded by Simmons in 2013. It employs approximately 35 people and is based in Los Angeles. […]

WPP announces that it has agreed to make a strategic investment in Woven Digital, Inc. (“Woven”), a digital media company that targets the millennial male market, in the US.

Rupert Murdoch’s UK newspaper group has mounted a major challenge to BBC radio with a £220m takeover of Wireless Group, the owner of the Premier League football broadcaster talkSport.

After its persistent efforts to buy tronc, formerly Tribune Publishing, Gannett Co., Inc. announced its plans to acquire digital marketing company ReachLocal, Inc. with the goal to enhance Gannett’s digital revenue by 50%

Future have agreed terms to acquire the holding company of Imagine Publishing for shares in Future worth £14.2m

Hearst has acquired a majority stake in MedHOK, Inc., a Tampa-based startup and software-as-a-service provider to the healthcare industry, the company announced yesterday. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but upon the deal’s anticipated completion this summer, MedHOK will join Hearst Business Media’s healthcare information solutions group, which includes the companies FDB, Zynx Health, MCG, and Homecare Homebase.

Hachette UK announced today that it has acquired the British mobile game development studio Neon Play, which will operate as a standalone business under the Hachette umbrella. The move allows Hachette to publish authors on new platforms and the publisher to “pursue more generally our aim to generate rapid growth” on other platforms

The Financial Times is to significantly boost its advertiser-funded video and digital content by acquiring specialist firm Alpha Grid. Alpha Grid produces branded content across broadcast, video, digital and social as well as events. The FT is aiming to ramp up its content marketing operation, housed within a new studio operation FT2 launched in September, which […]

Condé Nast has acquired Backchannel, a tech business brand from social publishing platform Medium. Backchannel will continue to live on the Medium platform and will be ad supported through that platform, a similar model to Bill Simmons’ The Ringer

After 71 years, Ebony magazine is changing hands. Johnson Publishing, the Chicago-based family company that launched Ebony and digest-sized sister magazine Jet in 1945 and 1951, respectively, has sold both titles to Austin-based private equity firm Clear View Group

Time Out tourism city magazine IPO float shares tanked Oakley CapitalTime Out’s stockmarket debut fails to dazzle: One star – needs improvement. That’s likely what the army of writers at Time Out (TMO) would be thinking if they had to review the media group’s stockmarket flotation Tuesday. Shares in the culture and entertainment mag fell 10% on their first day trading on AIM, and questions must surely be asked about the timing, coming as it does amid a major sell-off ahead of the European Union referendum next week

Microsoft is buying the professional social network LinkedIn for $26.2 billion (£18.5bn) in one of the biggest technology deals in history. The news, announced on Monday afternoon, instantly sent LinkedIn’s share price soaring by 50 percent in pre-market trading. The deal will be the biggest in Microsoft’s history. Microsoft’s shares fell 3.5 percent on the news. Microsoft said LinkedIn boss Jeff Weiner would stay in charge and report to Satya Nadella.

The German publisher continues to focus on building its digital subscription business with $250m purchase of research company

Ten Alps, trading as Zinc Media, the TV and multimedia content producer, today announces the disposal of the trade of Grove House Publishing Limited (“Grove”), one of its publishing subsidiaries, for a cash consideration of £50,000. Ten Alps will also retain certain assets, including the debtor book and cash in Grove, subject to various completion adjustments.

Time Out, the publisher that recommends things to do in cities from New York to Beijing, has conditionally raised £90m ahead of listing on London’s junior stock market, as it embarks on an ambitious growth plan

Briefing Media today announces the acquisition of Global Data Systems (“GDS”). GDS is the publisher of two market leading intelligence platforms: FeedInfo – the world’s leading source of news and premium intelligence for the meat, biotechnology and animal feed sectors; and FlexNews – a vital news service for senior executives working at multinationals in the global food industry

Capita plc has today announced the acquisition of Health Analytics Ltd, the award-winning Cambridge-based company whose specialist software uses clinical and financial information to support health and social care organisations to make more informed decisions about the care they deliver