After overpaying for Fast Company, becoming embroiled in Rosie O'Donnell's freaked out life and getting caught inflation its circulation figured for Rosie and YM, G + J has thrown in the towel and is selling itself to Meredith Corporation. Meredith, who will become the country's second largest publisher behind Time Inc. after the acquisition, will get G + J's Parents, Child, Fitness and Family Circle. G + J will try to sell Fast Company and and Inc. on its own before June 30, the date the Meredith/G + J deal finalizes.
Orchestrating the deal was G + J's Russell Denson who is said to be the master of prepping publishing companies for sale.
Drawing together resources from its AdWeek, BrandeWeek, MediaWeek, Billboard and Hollywood Reporter properties, VNU Business Media has, today, launched Inside Branded Entertainment, a website reporting on branded entertainment. So far, it just appears to be an aggregation site for branded entertainment related stories pulled from the VNU stable of sites rather than originally created content.
Thirdway, a consultancy run by former brand managers, has launched a weblog, The ThirdWay Blog, intended to offer commentary from the client side. Heading up the blog is ThirdWay, Inc. President and Adjunct NYU Professor of Marketing David Vinjamuri who spent 15 years working at Johnson & Johnson, Coca-Cola and DoubleClick, among others. From a brand managers viewpoint, Ninjamuri rates television commercials and discusses what, in his and other writer's opinions works and what doesn't.
Ypulse reports VIZ Media will, in July, launch a new manga magazine for young women entitled Shojo Beat. The magazine will cover art, style, design as well as romance, comedy and adventure.
