LONDON (Brand Republic) - Future Networks is understood to be close to selling its ailing US digital economy magazine, Business 2.0, to Time for a knockdown price.
Future is scaling back its operations in the US as it tries to shore up its plummeting share price. Future has issued two profit warnings in the last five months and recently reported a pre-tax loss of £59.3m, compared with a loss of £3.5m last year. Its share price stood at 86p this morning, down from 926p a year ago.
The sale to Time, a unit of AOL Time Warner, could well see Business 2.0 closed or merged with Time’s own title eCompany Now. The deal would give Time Business 2.0’s valuable 350,000 subscriber base and could help ensure eCompany’s future in the tough digital economy magazine market. eCompany has around 375,000 subscribers.
The resulting combination would see eCompany better placed to tackle its competitors, such as Fast Company, which has an ABC of 586,791, and Red Herring, which is struggling with an ABC of 315,633.
There is no indication as to whether the sale of the US version of Business 2.0 will affect the UK title launched last year.