Last week, a number of print media outlets seemed poised to make a comeback, though print media circulation is still down. So what’s driving companies including LVMH and Bedford Media to invest in reviving old properties? Don’t forget to subscribe to the Glossy Podcast for interviews with fashion industry leaders and Week in Review episodes, and the Glossy Beauty Podcast for interviews from the beauty industry. –Danny Parisi, sr. fashion reporter
The return of the magazine
News broke last week that Karlie Kloss, along with her husband, investor Joshua Kushner, plan to revive Life Magazine. The couple’s holding company, Bedford Media, in agreement with publisher Dotdash Meredith, is bringing back the storied magazine in both print and digital forms. First founded in the 1880s, Life was a major purveyor of American photography for over a century before shuttering for good in 2000.
It’s the latest in several big moves happening in fashion around legacy print media. The industry owes much of its development and cultural ambassadorship over the decades to magazines including Vogue, Elle and Harper’s Bazaar.
Most recently, LVMH reportedly put in a bid with French media company Lagardere to acquire Paris Match, a magazine showcasing photography and goings on around Paris for over 70 years. The deal would add a considerable media asset to LVMH’s already diversified holdings, which include restaurants and hotels, in addition to fashion, leather goods and spirits companies.
The move to revive print media comes at a difficult time for media. Last month, Vice laid off all its journalists and shut down Vice.com. And in January, Condé Nast employees walked off the job to protest protracted contract negotiations and the company’s plan to lay off 100 people, or more than 20% of the Condé Nast union.
In the U.S., daily print media circulation has fallen by nearly half over the last two decades. Digital media isn’t faring much better. In the last year, sites including Gawker, BuzzFeed News and Jezebel have gone through cycles of layoffs, shutdowns, and brief resurrections with subsequent shutdowns.
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So why would LVMH and Bedford Media want to invest in media at a time like this? When I spoke to Wall Street Journal Magazine editor-in-chief Sarah Ball earlier this month, she described purchasing a media company as a way for fashion giants to “express their power.” With LVMH already associated with fashion, owning an influential print magazine known for its photography and celebrity coverage is more about branding than revenue.
U.S. print media advertising is expected to fall to under $5 billion in annual revenue by 2026. Meanwhile, LVMH made nearly $100 billion in total revenue last year. Much like billionaires Jeff Bezos with the Washington Post and Patrick Soon-Shiong with the Los Angeles Times, this is not an essential acquisition based on generating massive revenue. But it is a way for companies like LVMH and Bedford Media to add to their prestige.
