One is the publisher of slick titles such as Heat and Grazia, where staff might shoot some pool after enjoying a creative brainstorm. The other is the tightly run, old-school home of high-circulation weekly stalwarts Take a Break and TV Choice.
Moreover, these publishing giants are now joined at the hip following Bauer's £1.14bn acquisition of Emap's consumer magazine and radio portfolio which was completed this month.
Bauer has a reputation for ruthlessly axing titles that fail to hit commercial targets. It certainly wasted no time in 'suspending' under-performing celebrity weekly First and women's glossy NW (formerly New Woman) last Friday. It was only recently that Emap executives were working to reassure agencies about First's future, which gives an indication of the sudden nature of Bauer's move.
The swiftness of its actions, which followed the renaming of Emap Consumer Media as Bauer Consumer Media, took many press directors by surprise, but the company has acted similarly quickly in the past to ditch its own titles, including First competitor In the Know.
First had been expected to show a double-digit increase in the ABCs for July to December 2007, which will be published on 14 February, but that would still have been below expectations given its £12m launch campaign; newsstand sales are understood to have fallen as low as 50,000 in some weeks.
While there has been no talk yet of 'consolidating' or 'streamlining' the old Emap business, industry observers are placing bets on which of its former titles will be next for the axe.
There are a few contenders. Loss-making men's style title Arena is expected to drop below 30,000 copies in the July to December ABCs, and FHM no longer commands the stellar circulation that made it the darling of the men's market in the mid- to late-90s.
Speaking before Bauer's announcement, Dominic Williams, press director at Carat, said: 'Everyone is talking about First. It guaranteed 180,000 and came in at 100,000. It looks good, but it is just not giving us the numbers. Long term, I expect [Bauer] will shut a couple of titles. But equally it might launch one. I think FHM is vulnerable,' he added.
Eve Samuel-Camps, deputy press director at Universal McCann, also speaking before the closures, said: 'NW has to be on its knees, but it will be interesting to see what [Bauer does] with FHM, because it is still a powerful brand.'
In contrast to Bauer, Emap has been known for retaining and reinvigorating loss-making titles. Heat, for one, initially failed to hit the mark as an entertainment title, but blossomed when repositioned as a celebrity weekly.
When Marketing contacted Bauer and Emap, it was 'business as usual', with no word on how the sale will affect either. An Emap spokeswoman said: 'There are no plans or strategic moves to change the way the businesses currently operate.'
But change is inevitable. There is a stark contrast between Emap and Bauer's cultures, and questions are being asked about how the former's glossy monthlies will fit into the latter's circulation-driven, weekly set-up.
'It is difficult to see how Bauer will absorb the more fluffy titles,' says
Samuel-Camps. 'It could take the best of Emap and mix it with the budget of Bauer, or absorb it into the Bauer culture, which would be a shame, as Emap is renowned for research and creativity.'
One theory is that Bauer will take titles such as Closer and Grazia into its existing weeklies operation, while leaving the monthlies in a separate division.
Aside from the closures, Bauer's main activity so far has been cosmetic - despite the name-change to Bauer Consumer Media, it remains under the charge of chief executive Paul Keenan. Bauer's existing magazines will continue to be run by managing director David Goodchild.
Advertisers will want to be updated on long-term plans to make educated buying decisions. But this level of openness goes against Bauer's notoriously secretive culture, where launches are kept quiet until the last possible moment.
Emap's erstwhile employees are equally in the dark, fuelling concerns within agencies that this uncertainty could lead to high-profile editorial and commercial departures.
Bauer has never shown much interest in digital, while Emap has always prided itself on its cross-platform brands. But Williams believes Bauer will change. 'It will get the clashes ironed out quickly and it will change Bauer for the better,' he says. 'It has been dying to talk about digital but hasn't been able to because of the type of magazines it had.'
The key beneficiaries of any uncertainty during this transitional period will be rival publishers, chiefly IPC Media, which publishes a host of direct competitors to the former Emap titles. But don't expect Bauer to hang around for long. As demonstrated last week, it makes decisions quickly, and implements them just as swiftly.
Vulnerable titles
GONE
First
Emap bosses were urgently getting appointments in the diaries of press directors before the shock announcement of the closure of the ailing celebrity title last week. Rumours suggest that its circulation fell to a low of 50,000 in some weeks - not a good return for a title that launched with a £12m media campaign. Latest ABC: 106,961 (Jan-Jun 2007)
NW
Emap had insisted that there were no plans to close the title formerly known as New Woman, but Bauer differed in its opinion and wielded the axe last Friday. The forthcoming ABC figures for July to December 2007 were expected to reveal that sales of the glossy were in freefall. Latest ABC: 126,805 (Jan-Jun 2007)
GOING?
Arena
The men's style magazine refreshed its appearance last year, but still struggles with a tiny circulation. Buyers are wondering how long it can survive in the shadows of GQ and Esquire. Its demise would be much lamented by magazine purists, but Bauer has little time for such sentiment. Latest ABC: 30,886 (Jan-Jun 2007)
FHM
The once-mighty men's magazine's circulation has plummeted in recent times, losing market share to weeklies including Nuts and Zoo, and consumer's down-time to the internet. The magazine is launching a travel-sized edition in a bid to boost its ailing circulation. Latest ABC: 311,590 (Jan-Jun 2007)