After months of speculation, Rogers Media has divested itself from some of Canada’s most popular magazine titles.
St. Joseph Communications, most known for Toronto Life and Fashion Magazine, has entered into an agreement to acquire seven publications from Rogers Media, including Maclean’s, Chatelaine and Canadian Business.
“We are pleased to add these renowned titles to our portfolio of award-winning media brands and to welcome their dedicated staff into the St. Joseph family,” said Tony Gagliano, executive chairman & CEO of SJC. “We also want to welcome their diverse and loyal audiences and advertisers who have supported these brands through the years.”
The complete list of publication to become part of St. Joseph is Maclean’s, Chatelaine (English and French), Today’s Parent, HELLO! Canada, and the digital publications of FLARE and Canadian Business. In addition, St. Joseph will also acquire the custom content business from Rogers Media that focusses on creating sponsored articles.
According to the company, Rogers said the main reason for selling the properties was to accelerate “its strategic vision and repositioning our Media business for the future.”
Rick Brace, president of Rogers Media, said, “it was vitally important to us to find a good home for our employees and these storied brands so that the publications live on and flourish in a well-established company dedicated to publishing. It was a difficult decision, but one we believe is right as we accelerate our strategic vision and reposition our media business for the future.”
If you are a subscriber of these publications, St. Joseph notes that “current subscribers will continue to receive their print and digital subscriptions.”
Rogers Media was interested in selling its digital and print media assets in August 2018. At one point in time it was Roustan Media, owner of The Hockey News, that was interesting in buying the collection of publications, but the deal eventually fell apart. Then, last December, a group of Rogers Media employees was reportedly interested in purchasing the assets but nothing formally came forward.
St. Joseph said this deal is expected to close next month and “all current Rogers Media Publishing employees will be offered employment.”
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