Dutch-Anglo business-to-business media giant Reed Elsevier announced Thursday that it intends to sell its Reed Business Information publishing unit, which includes the JCK publishing group. Titles under the JCK brand include: Jewelers’ Circular Keystone (JCK), JCKstyle, JCKLuxury, JCKonline.com, JCK India, JCK’sAnnual Jewelers’ Directory, and JCK’sLook Book.
The sale of RBI will be used to finance the $4.1 billion acquisition of ChoicePoint, which provides data and analytics to the insurance sector. The acquisition also was announced Thursday.
Sir Crispin Davis, Reed Elsevier’s chief executive officer, said that divestment of RBI and the acquisition of ChoicePoint will help Reed Elsevier move “towards a more consistent, cohesive, and synergistic business.”
In addition, Davis said that the company is moving away from businesses with advertising revenue models.
“RBI is a well-managed high quality business as evidenced by the success of its online growth and the control of costs. Its advertising revenue model and the inherent cyclicality fit less well however with the subscription-based information and workflow solutions focus of Reed Elsevier’s strategy,” Davis said.
RBI publishes hundreds of business-to-business publications, Webzines and Web portals, custom publishing, directories, research, and direct-marketing lists throughout the world.
The company said it will continue to own Reed Exhibitions—which produces more than 470 events in 29 countries, including a number of shows under the JCK brand—including: JCK Las Vegas, LUXURY by JCK and PREMIERE, Swiss Watch by JCK, JCK New Delhi, JCK Toronto, and LUXURY Bermuda.
“Reed Exhibitions has pursued a very successful strategy in the last few years,” Davis said. “This strategy, which focuses on organic growth enhanced by targeted acquisitions and development of our business in high growth economies, has proven to deliver strong growth.”
Follow JCK on Instagram: @jckmagazineFollow JCK on Twitter: @jckmagazine
Follow JCK on Facebook: @jckmagazine