Kalmbach Publishing Co. has agreed to purchase the assets of New York-based Discover Media LLC, including the award-winning science and technology magazine Discover and its website, www.DiscoverMagazine.com.
Discover joins Kalmbach’s family of 16 other enthusiast and special-interest titles, including Astronomy, the world’s best-selling astronomy magazine.
“We’ve taken another strategic step with Discover, a magazine with a solid editorial tradition,” said Gerald Boettcher, president of Kalmbach. “With Discover and Astronomy, we strengthen our leadership position in publishing for the science category.”
Launched in 1980, Discover is published 10 times per year and covers a wide range of topics. Key subjects include physics; astronomy and space exploration; the brain; medicine; biology and evolution; and energy and the environment. The magazine also produces four newsstand specials each year.
With annual revenue of $14 million and a total circulation of 700,000, Discover has a large subscriber base, a strong renewal rate, and is one of the top-selling magazines at airport newsstands nationwide.
The website DiscoverMagazine.com is one of the top science destinations on the Internet, with more than 2 million monthly visitors. It features daily science news coverage, a popular lineup of bloggers, and a large selection of video content. The magazine recently launched “Joe Genius,” a science TV show for the online video network Revision3.
The acquisition also includes Discover events, with its series of interactive roundtables co-sponsored by the National Science Foundation.
Discover Editor-in-Chief Corey S. Powell; Creative Director Michael F. Di Ioia; Managing Editor, Online Amos Zeeberg; and the creative staff – which includes approximately 20 editors and designers – will continue to be headquartered in New York. The staff will report to Publisher Kevin P. Keefe, Kalmbach’s vice president-editorial. Discover also will continue to have an advertising and marketing team based in New York.
“The sale of Discover to Kalmbach is a good outcome for our investors and a great outcome for the brand and staff,” said Henry Donahue, CEO and publisher of Discover Media. “As one of Kalmbach’s market-leading brands, Discover is well-positioned to grow and succeed across multiple platforms for a very long time.”
“The hallmark of Discover‘s editorial and design team is their ability to make complex subjects both entertaining and understandable,” said Keefe. “We will certainly continue Discover‘s dedication to offering our readers compelling writing, exciting design, and great photography.”
Discover also will continue to serve a diverse base of advertisers. “The magazine and its high-quality readership will continue to attract some of the best-known brands in the world,” said Keefe.
Kalmbach Publishing Co. is a privately held publisher that, in addition to Astronomy, produces the leading magazines in railroading (Trains), bird-watching (Birder’s World), the art and business of writing (The Writer), model railroading (Model Railroader), beaded jewelry-making (BeadStyle and Bead & Button), and scale modeling (FineScale Modeler).
This is Kalmbach’s second magazine acquisition in the past year, following the September 2009 purchase of Duluth (Minn.)-based Cabin Life magazine.
Discover Media LLC was represented in the transaction by A. Buchholtz & Company, LLC.
