Big Changes at Future Publishing

Future Publishing LLC, the global company best known for its gamer, music and technology enthusiast brands, has had a rough 2011—at least in the United States. After crawling back into profitability in 2010, earnings on these shores took a dramatic dive in 2011, with total revenue down 13 percent to $62.4 million. Print advertising fell 12 percent (for an overall decline of 9 percent) and newsstand sales declined 31 percent, according to a company report outlining 2011 results through September 30. The company's U.K. operations, which constitute 72 percent of the business, saw a 2 percent overall decline over the same period, with ad revenue slightly up as growth in digital advertising exceeded the decline in print advertising. Future's shares fell to a twelve-year low after the earnings report was released on Nov. 24. As the same time, the company announced a dividend freeze for all of 2012. October saw the resignations of chief executive Stevie Spring, who handled U.S. operations, and finance director John Bowman. Spring was replaced at the helm by Mark Wood, who joined Future in August 2010 to run its U.K. business. The moves, along with restructuring and staff cuts, led some to speculate the company planned to shed its U.S. operations, an idea flatly denied by Wood."There are no plans at all to sell it off," Wood told The Guardian in October. "On the contrary, we are bringing the U.S. and U.K. operations closer together."This plan was made official in the statement to investors released last week. "We have taken swift action to reorganise the company, merging our U.K. and U.S. operations, and creating a single global product line," a statement from Wood reads. "These changes enable us to operate more efficiently and will get our U.S. business back to profitability by [fiscal year 2013]." He continues: "These actions also mean that we can accelerate our transition to a digital business model. Instead of seeing our business constrained by geography and defined by separately focussed U.K. and U.S. operations, we will now sell our entire range of high-quality content into the borderless digital markets opening up worldwide."Future's digital revenue is on the rise, up 31 percent overall (36 percent in the U.K. and 25 percent in the U.S.) but currently making up only 11 percent of total revenue, according to the report. The company has moved aggressively into tablet publishing, launching over 100 digital titles and seeing six million app downloads on the Apple Newsstand in its first month. "Future's success on the Apple Newsstand ... has demonstrated our ability to develop and deliver digital products at high speed. It also underlines the global appeal of our content," Wood said in the statement. He said Future's previous silo structure meant the company was never able to fully capitalize on the broad appeal of its brands. The previous structure's shortcomings were apparent, he said, in the face of data showing "nearly a third" of the 7 million unique monthly visitors to its U.K. website TechRadar were from the U.S. "We now plan to roll out a U.S.-customised version of TechRadar as a high priority so that we can monetise that interest," he said.The company also indicated last week its management restructuring in the U.S. was not complete. It was announced today that Rachelle Considine, formerly vice president of sales and marketing for Future U.S., has been promoted to to chief operating officer. "We're confident that with her outstanding team-building and commercial expertise she will provide the leadership needed to align our U.S. and U.K. operations and enable Future to develop rapidly as a leading digital publisher both online and on tablets in the U.S.," Wood said in a press release.

General

Big Changes at Future Publishing

James Sturdivant

About

Subscriptions

Events

Publications

WORK SMARTER - LEARN, GROW AND BE INSPIRED.

Subscribe today!

James Sturdivant