Conde Nast Publications has bought Women's Sports +
Fitness (WS+F), and consequently will change the title of
its four-month-old Conde Nast Sports for Women to Conde Nast
Women's Sports and Fitness, according to Robin Pogrebin of
the N.Y. TIMES. Conde Nast will also scale back its women's
publication from a monthly to six times a year, beginning
this summer. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, "but
people involved" put the price at about $5M. WS+F is owned
by John Winsor and Tim Borst. Pogrebin writes that the
acquisition and the cutback in the publishing schedule "may
signal some nervousness about the strength of the market."
Conde Nast has invested $40M in its women's magazine, and
"may have decided to play it safer, remaking its magazine in
the image of other tried and true fitness titles." But
Conde Nast CEO Steven Florio said that the purchase was
simply a "readjustment" to reader requests for more fitness
info. Florio said Conde Nast's new title will continue to
guarantee advertisers a circulation of 350,000. WS+F has a
circulation of 218,000 and is "affiliated" with the Women's
Sports Foundation (N.Y. TIMES, 1/13). In N.Y., Keith Kelly
puts the deal at an estimated $7M (N.Y. DAILY NEWS, 1/13).
Also In N.Y., Mary Huhn reports industry insiders said that
newsstand sales of Conde Nast Sports' first two women's
issues "were disappointing" (N.Y. POST, 1/13).
