Digital Newsstand Zinio for Sale

Digital magazine newsstand Zinio is putting itself up for sale, according to reports [1]. The 12-year-old San Francisco-based firm has hired Montgomery & Co. and supposedly is seeking $50 million to $100 million.

Zinio helped many publishers post their titles to PCs and mobile devices for the first time, but there were drawbacks [2] to its publishing platform. Magazines increasingly wanted to take advantage of tablets’ interactivity, and most Zinio editions were flat replicas of the printed page. The other often-cited drawback to Zinio was that shoppers had to go through Zinio’s newsstand app to find titles.

As other device makers, most notably Apple, have opened the door to allow publishers to sell subscriptions on tablets and introduced their own newsstands, Zinio has faced questions about its staying power, although in an interview last fall [2], CEO Rich Maggiotto said that Apple hasn't had an impact on Zinio’s sales.