The process to sell Women's lifestyle publisher Are Media, with titles including the Australian Women’s Weekly, Elle and Marie Clarire, is still in play after almost a year.
Despite the company entering the market in July 2025, there’s been no formal updates from the company, or KPMG which is managing the sale.
Bauer paid $525 million in 2012 for what was then ACP. When private equity shop Mecury Capital bought Are Media in 2020, reports put the sale price as low as $50 million.
Steve Allen, director of strategy and research at Pearman, explained the delay could be attributed to its owner.
“The private equity owners are not going to sell this at anything but full value, in there working equation. This is the principal stumbling block," he said.
“I think those that have looked at it, have a fire-sale in mind. A media sector under continuous pressure for sales & revenue, advertising and readership, this is what interested parties are looking at. Mercury Capital is not at this. They have re-engineered the business, have invested and made it profitable. They want a return on their investment.”
Are Media has continued to invest in it’s senior management, appointing Sally Eagle as CEO, Rachel Fountain as Head Of Vodcasts and Shannon Fitzpatrick as Head of Data, AdTech & Commercial Operations.
Amy Carr, general manager of growth at Yango, believed buyers were hesitant given the broader contextual challenges.
“Mercury Capital is attempting a standard five-year exit, but buyers are understandably hesitant about taking on traditional print assets in a slow M&A market,” said Carr.
“While Are Media is pushing heavily into digital and shoppable content, prospective buyers likely want concrete evidence that these new revenue streams will actually offset any print declines.
“This is creating a natural price standoff: Mercury expects a premium for turning the business around, while buyers are pushing for a discount due to the cautious advertising market.
“When it initially went up for sale last year, market estimates were sitting around the $90M to $100M mark. However, because it has been sitting on the market for nearly a year, buyers will inevitably use this delay as leverage in negotiations. Because of this, I’d expect the final amount will settle somewhere in between.”
Carr said international buyers could be lured by the prospect of an Australian foothold.
“Potential buyers? (US digital and print publisher) Dotdash Meredith makes sense given they have already partnered with Are Media. Buying Are outright would provide an instant footprint across Australia and New Zealand,” said Carr.
“Someone with a major retail focus? Acquire its audience of 7 million Australians - mostly women - and use that data to boost their own retail media networks. Or potentially another private equity might step in buy the asset and finish the digital transformation that Mercury started.”
Mark Fletcher, managing director at newsagency group NewsXPress, believed the broader industry was in decline.
“Print is declining in the context of mass - daily newspapers and mass magazines have no future. Special interest content has a bright future with print, in part because easy issue is treated like a collectible,” said Fletcher.
“I think the timeline reflects the challenges of print. Most understand it’s dying as a medium. Few understand how to land it profitable. The current Are Media leadership has done little for print.”
Yet Fletcher believed Are Media’s problems run deeper than just market conditions
"Special interest titles, niche titles, continue to do well, many are growing. These are titles from small publishers. Are Direct, a subsidiary of Are Media, manages distribution of them and it does so poorly as a result of poor support from the parent company."
Are Media declined to comment.
AdNews has approached KPMG and Mercury Capital for comment.
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