Beckett Media Again For Sale As Circulation, Sales Drop

Beckett Media Back On Auction Block

Beckett Media is "back on the sales block" just 3 1/2 years after N.Y.-based Apprise Media bought the company, according to Dave Moore of the DALLAS BUSINESS JOURNAL. Sources said that more than five companies are inquiring about buying Beckett, and Webster Univ. economics professor Patrick Rishe said that Beckett "might fetch between [$25-45M]." Beckett in '05 sold "more than 800,000 copies of [its] collectors’ magazines a month," but Beckett President & CEO Peter Gudmundsson indicated that for the past six to seven years, circulation "has been in a slow, steady decline." Monthly circulation now "varies between 500,000 and 700,000, depending on the month." Two months ago Beckett "dropped the regular monthly publications and now prints the Beckett Sports Card Monthly, which puts all the sports into one publication." Gudmundsson said that cutting back on monthly publications "has helped Beckett Media save [10-15%] in paper and mailing costs." However, while Beckett "might have realized a cost savings," Gudmundsson said that "sales have dropped as a result." Gudmundsson said that Beckett will "re-examine whether dropping its monthly magazines hurt the company in six to nine months" (DALLAS BUSINESS JOURNAL, 5/9 issue).