Meredith CEO eyes 5 for possible acquisition

MEREDITH, after being rebuffed in its bid to merge with Media General, is actively on the prowl for companies to buy.

Chief Executive Steve Lacy told Media Ink he “presented five acquisitions to the board last week.”

None of the potential targets were in the print field, however, which would seem to squelch the inevitable speculation that he is stalking Time Inc. — or troubled Rodale.

“Two are in television. Three are in digital,” he said.

Lacy declined to divulge further details.

But his actions do suggest the company is not in sell mode after plans to merge with Media General were squelched when TV sta tion owner Nexstar stepped in and grabbed Media General for $4.6 billion.

As a consolation prize, Meredith will pocket a $60 million breakup fee.

Lacy said that $60 million is taxable income, so a good portion will go to Uncle Sam. Another sevenfigure sum will pay legal fees.

But Lacy did say that, with the merger talks over, the company is free to engage in stock repurchases and can increase its dividend.

In fact, Meredith’s board on Saturday increased its dividend by 8.2 percent, or 15 cents a share, to $1.98 a year.

Prevention adfree

About 20 more people could be facing the axe at stressedout Rodale.

The pending cuts mean close to 70 people — or about 10 percent of its 700person workforce — will have been cut since the fall.

The latest cuts center around one Rodale title, Prevention, which on Monday announced that it was going to go adfree starting with the July issue.

Rodale hopes the loss of advertising revenue will be partially offset by the planned increase in Prevention’s cover price to $4.99 from $3.99 — with a corresponding increase in its subscription rate.

But Publisher Lori Burgess and about 20 people on the ad business side are expected to be out of their jobs sometime in May — after the June issue goes to press.

Rodale Chief Executive Maria Rodale said she would “try to transition them to other jobs in the company.”

Prevention registered a 34 percent decline in print circulation in the first half of 2015, to 1.8 million copies, according to The Alliance for Audited Media.

But the title saw a 14 percent gain in ad pages in 2015 compared to 2014, according to Media Radar.

On a panel discussion at the recent American Magazine Media Conference, Rodale said, “It has been a struggle with advertisers for a long time and readers didn’t really like the ads.”

Without an advertising rate base to satisfy, circulation does not have to be propped up at a certain level to appease ad customers.

The gamble is that the lower costs and the increased circula tion revenue will be enough to keep the secondoldest magazine in the family’s stable of health and fitness titles stable.

The Magazine Media 360° Brand Audience Report said that when digital audience is added, Prevention’s total audience actually grew 14 percent, despite the slide in print.

Ads for Michelle

First Lady Michelle Obama got a nice thank you from the big four in the magazine world — a donation of $9 million in public service ads in magazines published by Hearst, Condé Nast, Time Inc. and Meredith.

The ads are being offered to the Let Girls Learn initiative, launched by the Obama administration last March.

“Sixtytwo million girls today are not in school and the results are devastating,” the First Lady told the audience at a panel discussion during the American Magazine Media Conference at the Grand Hyatt in New York on Tuesday.

The panel included actors Lena Dunham and Julianne Moore.

“We have to push past the doubters,” said Obama. “When we succeed, we have to reach back and help others.”

Obama said her parents and brother believed in her, even when many of her teachers doubted that a black girl from the South Side of Chicago could succeed. Obama went on to graduate from an Ivy League school and earn a law degree.

“We have to be role models, but to do that we have to be vulnerable and tell stories in human ways ... you have to tell about your own fears and missteps,” she said.

“These girls look at you and think, ‘There is no way I can be like her.’ I want them to know I am them and they are me,” she said. During the wideranging discussion, Obama also urged youngsters to be careful how they tweet, and mused about what she might be doing when President Obama leaves office.

“I don’t know what it will feel like to be the former first lady,” she said. “I’ll know better when I’m there.”