F+W Media Announces the Acquisition of New Track Media

NEW YORK, Jan. 17, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- David Nussbaum, Chairman & CEO, F+W Media, Inc. (www.fwmedia.com) announced today the acquisition of New Track Media (www.newtrackmedia.com) securing the Company's place as the leading art and craft content and commerce company. New Track, founded in 2006, is a consumer enthusiast media company with a portfolio focused on special interest categories. New Track includes 30 integrated consumer enthusiast brands in select craft categories, woodworking, and astronomy. F+W Media is a consumer enthusiast bellwether that has diversified its content offering through selling hard goods, services and education to its list of 7M unique email subscribers. Terms of the deal were not released.

"The New Track strategy closely mirrors that of F+W Media. From a two-dimensional publisher, to a multi-channel content and commerce company," said Nussbaum. "The team has had good success building their digital media and direct-to-consumer ecommerce offerings; we'll immediately focus on taking those businesses to the next level."

The New Track acquisition adds three robust direct-to-consumer catalog businesses with more than 12 million members and revenues in the tens of millions. The total F+W ecommerce division now includes 30 individual community-based stores, with more than 20 Million individual consumer orders annually, and revenues in the tens of Millions.

The ecommerce business at F+W Media includes content (books, magazines, ebooks), education (video and instructor-led, conferences & events), consumables (patterns, fabric, notions), and more. The Company launched its ecommerce business in late 2008, and today employs a division of ecommerce experts from leading internet retailers, including Amazon.com.

Over the past 18 months, F+W has closed three acquisitions in the craft market – Interweave, Martha Pullen Company, Love Sewing. More than 60% of the Company's total revenue is now derived from the art and craft verticals. "The craft market is sizeable – and growing," said Nussbaum. Craft industry reports indicate 66 Million U.S. households identify a member as a crafter and in total these crafters spend upward of $31 Billion annually on supplies, online and in-store.

"In addition to aggressively expanding our strength in the arts and crafts sector, this acquisition further solidifies F+W Media as a leading brand using content to build a large ecommerce business. Also, New Track Media, like F+W Media has been transitioning its business from print and by the end of 2015, we expect our company will have more than 60% its revenues in digital/ecommerce/product and events, and 40% in print driven revenues," Nussbaum added.

The acquisition adds 8 ecommerce storefronts, 3 consumer catalog brands, 13 magazines, 45 SIPs, 37 consumer events (with more than 100,000 attendees), 3 affinity clubs, and 2 retail shops to the Company's portfolio. New Track operates from 8 offices and two retail locations.

SOURCE F+W Media