: Well, this will do something to kickstart Reader’s Digest’s online efforts...it has bought Allrecipes.com, an online community food and cooking website. Price: about $66 million, and the transaction will be funded using existing debt capacity of RD.
The rationale? Eric Schrier, President and CEO of RDA: “We own...food publishing franchise Taste of Home, along with a fast-growing tapestry of other food and cooking activities. Our acquisition of Allrecipes.com will provide us with a valuable digital platform to further leverage our position as the country’s leading food and cooking publisher.”
Allrecipes.com was launched eight years ago..it now has 1.8 million registered members...it has, on an average, 6 million unique visitors who collectively view about 70 million page views. The site will act as a portal for RDA’s existing food websites, which support its magazine properties like Taste of Home and Light & Tasty.
The company anticipates that Allrecipes.com will contribute approximately $4 million of EBITDA in the first year.
This is RD’s first major online acquisition, and would probably help the company in trying to become more relevant in the digital age..its print circulation has been declining, for obvious reasons, though it is still the best-selling general magazine in U.S., exceeded only by the membership publications of AARP.
For more on RD’s efforts to stay relevant, read this Mediaweek story: ”Reader’s Digest Assoc. Dips Into Youth “