Bath-headquartered global media group Future has acquired the US version of fashion and beauty publication Marie Claire just over a year after it snapped up the UK title.
Marie Claire US, a joint venture between French publisher Marie Claire Album (MCA) and Cosmopolitan and Harper’s Bazaar group Hearst Magazines Media, has produced the title for the past 27 years.
Future said it had entered into a five-year licence agreement with MCA to produce the title in the US and Canada.
Last year Marie Claire US reached 17.5m monthly online users, with revenue of $19.1m – approximately half of which came from digital media.
Future acquired the UK Marie Claire in April 2020 as part of its £140m takeover of London-based TI Media. The title was one of 38 brands operated by TI.
Future said the US deal would build on the ongoing success of the MarieClaire.co.uk brand. It also said it further strengthened its position in the women’s lifestyle vertical in North America in line with its strategy to achieve brand vertical leadership across English-speaking markets.
Future CEO Zillah Byng-Thorne said: “Our continued growth and success is proof of our strategy in action. We’ve had fantastic results expanding the Marie Claire UK brand and we believe that with our expertise in terms of audience, e-commerce and platform, we can develop the offering to grow the Marie Claire US audience significantly.”
Future has grown rapidly in the UK and US over the past five years following a major restructuring started by Ms Byng-Thorne when she arrived at the then loss-making group.
The group first entered the US market in a meaningful way in 2018 with the £100m takeover of the business-to-consumer arm of leading New York-based digital media publisher Purch, adding popular US tech and science platforms such as Tom’s Guide, Tom’s Hardware, Space.com and Live Science to its portfolio.
Future’s titles range from Classic Rock, Total Film, FourFourTwo and What Hi-Fi? magazines to global hobby platforms such as Techradar, PCGamer.com and T3. It has also recently moved into the price comparison website market with the £594m takeover of the GoCo, the firm behind Co Compare insurance.
Marie Claire was launched in France in 1937 by writer Marcelle Auclair and industrialist and media tycoon Jean Prouvost, who helped create the iconic Paris Match magazine.
