Meredith to Acquire American Baby Group from Primedia

Posted on November 8, 2002

Meredith Corporation announced that it has reached an agreement with Primedia Inc. to acquire American Baby magazine and its related properties for $115 million. The purchase price represents a multiple of approximately 10 times American Baby group's projected calendar 2003 EBITDA. Meredith plans to continue to have American Baby's operations based in New York. Meredith publishes numerous consumer publications including Better Homes and Gardens, Ladies' Home Journal, Country Home, Traditional Home and More.

"The acquisition of American Baby builds on our strategy to extend our leadership position across a culturally diverse and younger demographic spectrum of the family marketplace," said Steve Lacy, President, Meredith Publishing Group. "We believe this multi-tier franchise will help us reach young families who are just beginning to build their home and family lives. It's a great fit to the 'family side' of our existing home and family titles."

Lacy noted that the American Baby group is a well-established large-scale brand with a strong array of products that reaches "younger women and the Hispanic market -- two areas that we believe will enhance our already strong presence in the home and family arena."

American Baby group properties include:

American Baby magazine, which was launched in 1938. It is currently published monthly and has a circulation of 2 million.
Childbirth magazine -- written for expectant mothers in the third trimester and distributed in childbirth classes.
First Year of Life magazine, which is written for parents of children from birth to 12 months of age and distributed in-hospital at birth.
Hispanic titles including Espera, Primeros 12 Meses, and Healthy Kids en Espanol.
Television programs American Baby and Healthy Kids on the FX television network.
americanbaby.com and healthykids.com websites.
Baby Faire expos and product shows.
Custom publications for clients including Proctor & Gamble, Fisher Price and Mead Johnson.

Tom Rogers, Chairman and CEO of Primedia, said, "While American Baby is a solid brand, after we divested the Modern Bride Group earlier this year, which was our other principal property that had dealt with young women, American Baby had far less strategic value to our company. American Baby is a great fit with Meredith, which has multiple title offerings to the same demographic. We wish the team at American Baby the best in their new home with Meredith."