To reduce its exposure to the volatile advertising market, Reed Elsevier is to sell its business-to-business magazine division, which includes such media and entertainment industry titles as Variety, Broadcasting and Cable, Multichannel News and Publishers Weekly, writes The Hollywood Reporter.
Reed Elsevier unveiled its 2007 earnings and revealed a cost reduction programme set to save it 245 million pounds by 2011.
The company said the planned sale of the Reed Business Information unit is focused on “reducing exposure to advertising markets and cyclicality” as the firm concentrates instead on subscription-based information and other offerings. It follows the recent sale of its education division.
In order to boost the company’s future revenue streams it will acquire ChoicePoint, a provider of information services for the insurance industry, for $4.1 billion. This is seen as fitting in with its LexisNexis property and other data businesses.
