US publishing giant Hearst Corporation is backing a $1 billion (€1.17 billion) bid for the consumer magazine division of Dutch publisher VNU, according to the Wall Street Journal.
The
WSJ says that Hearst, publisher of
Esquire and
Cosmopolitan in the US, is backing a joint bid already on the table from Moscow’s Independent Media and the Netherlands’ ING Bank. According to Independent Media’s chairman, Boudewijn Poelman, Hearst joined the bid because it could no longer participate in the auction independently.
Sanoma WSOY, Finland’s largest media group, is also thought to be bidding for the VNU business, as are venture capital firms BD Partners and CVC.
VNU publishes 150 titles across Europe. It is selling its consumer magazines and education publishing division, Malmberg, in order to finance the $2.3 billion acquisition of US market research firm ACNielsen (see VNU In $2.3bn Deal To Buy ACNielsen).
