Top Gear and Radio Times magazine owner on for £300m sale
Immediate Media, the publisher of some of Britain’s most popular magazines like Radio Times and Top Gear, is rumoured to be on sale for £300m.
According to the Sunday Times, the publisher’s private equity owner Exponent is interviewing advisers for handling the sale that is expected to be completed before the summer.
One of Britain’s biggest magazine publishers, Immediate Media sells 74m magazines every year including BBC titles like Good Food, Homes & Antiques, Gardeners’ World, and Match of the Day among others. The media house also owns other UK consumer titles like Triathlon, Urban Cyclist, You and Your wedding, and Horrible Histories.
The company boasts over one million subscribers and reaches 33m people online every month.
In April, the publisher launched Clangers Magazine for three to five-year olds, based on the hugely popular CBeebies show.
The magazine house, which is said to make profits of £40m a year, was formed in 2011 as a merger between Bristol-based Origin Publishing and publishing house Magicalia. It employs over 1,000 staff at its offices in London, Bristol, Camberley and Manchester.
Last year, it was named the “Media Company of the Year” at the British Media Awards.
No one was available for comment.