Iowa-based publisher Meredith, which publishes Better Homes and Gardens, Ladies' Home Journal and American Baby, was earlier tipped as a possible buyer.
Along with Family Circle, it will take control of Parents, Fitness and Child from Gruner+Jahr USA. The German firm also has an option to sell business magazines Inc. and Fast Company to Meredith, although Meredith would then sell these on.
G+J is the sixth-biggest US magazine publisher and has been in the US market for 30 years.
The sell-off follows a change of thinking at the top of the German media giant under chief executive Gunter Thielen, who focused on growth in Europe rather than the US, where it also owns Random House.
G+J has had a troubled recent history in the US, where it was involved in a high-profile court battle with comedienne Rosie O'Donnell dating back to 2002.
There were also the revelation of its overstatement of sales for the teen magazine YM, followed by the well-documented closure of the O'Donnell-fronted title Rosie.
Rosie, a joint venture between G&J and the US chatshow host O'Donnell, ended in a messy courtroom battle. In a spat of suing and counter-suing, details of the running of the title were revealed, including the knowing overstatement of its circulation.
The debacle resulted in a senior management reshuffle, with the US chief executive Daniel Brewster being sacked and replaced in the interim by the president of G+J's international magazine division, Axel Ganz. The senior vice-president of consumer marketing Diane Potter was also forced to resign.
G+J went on to sell off YM to Conde Nast last year and at the time it said this did not represent a retreat from the US market.
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