Fast Company Gets A Ticket to Overseas Opportunity

Folio: The Magazine for Magazine Management, Feb, 2001 by Cindy Gillis

Now under Gruner+Jahr USA, the magazine has a good shot at the European market.

Fast Company is eyeing overseas markets now that it's got the backing of new owner Gruner+Jahr USA. "It's an opportunity for us to grow and expand," says Alan Webber, one of Fast Company's founding editors. G+J USA bought Fast Company in late December from Mortimer Zuckerman for $360 million, plus a bonus of up to $150 million. The newfound international leverage comes from G+J USA's parent, German publisher Gruner+Jahr AG, which publishes more than 100 titles in 14 countries.

G+J AG's reach could broaden Fast Company's European distribution, offer access to international newsstand space and provide fulfillment services beyond the United States with little difficulty, Webber says.

"Without a lot of cost, we could have presence, visibility and brand awareness in a short period of time," he says. He also believes he can capitalize on the proximity of nearby, Boston-based Inc., also recently acquired by G+J USA. Bundled events, ad sales and online opportunities are all possible, he says.

Although new-economy titles have recently been hard hit, Webber says Fast Company remains perfectly positioned, and he insists there will be no shifts in editorial direction. Business leaders face changing economic and workforce climates, and Fast Company provides new ideas and practices to succeed, he says. "We're not nice-to-know--we're need-to-know," he says. "We hope readers and advertisers will see the distinction very clearly."

Webber does not expect the turbulent times in the dot-com sector to affect Fast Company. "We've never been a dot-com magazine," he says. "We started five years ago, before the Internet bubble hit."

The sale could prove wise for the title and for G+J USA, according to Reed Phillips, managing partner of investment banking firm DeSilva & Phillips. But he also believes G+J USA paid too much. "I think it was worth $300 million, period, no back-end," he says.

Webber, who with fellow founding editor William Taylor owned a portion of Fast Company before the sale, would not comment on the purchase price.

Julian Lowin, Fast Company's publisher, says, "I would say, long term, that this is a good deal for G+J."

Bill Hitzig, COO of The Jordan Edmiston Group, says Fast Company's assets, G+J USA's resources and the business savvy of G+J USA CEO Daniel Brewster will make the deal a hit.

Fast Company has shown steady growth in circulation and advertising since its launch. Its 2000 circulation was 538,000, and the magazine projects 680,000 this year. Ad pages through November of last year rose 34 percent from 1999, according to Publishers Information Bureau, Ad pages were 1,444 during 1999 and 1,935 in 2000, translating into $70 million in revenue from January to November 2000, and $32 million for all of 1999.