NEW YORK (May 15, 2007) — Hot Rod and Motor Trend magazines, along with a stable of other enthusiast publications, have been sold by Primedia Consumer Source to home entertainment distributor Source Interlink Cos. for $1.2 billion.
Primedia's enthusiast media division includes 70 magazines—with titles such as Soap Opera Digest, Power & Motoryacht and Snowboarder—90 Web sites and 60 event programs.
The idea at Source Interlink, whose largest shareholder is Yucaipa Cos., is to combine Primedia's content with its magazine distribution and merchandising programs to create a full-service media company.
“Over the last several years, Source has driven the consolidation of a fragmented and inefficient channel for the distribution and merchandising of home entertainment content at retail and the newsstand,” said Michael Duckworth, Source Interlink chairman. “This acquisition is a first step to leverage what we have built by transforming Source into a fully integrated media company with both print and digital content.”
Primedia, whose other assets once ranged from New York magazine to the in-school network Channel One, has been selling off chunks of its portfolio in recent years and months to pay down debt and refocus its business.