NEW YORK CITY – Aiming for scale in the global marketplace, ARTNEWS S.A. and Brant Publications have announced plans to merge. The deal, publically disclosed on July 29, joins the assets of the two legacy media companies to create what its owners are calling the world’s largest and most influential print and digital publisher of in-depth, comprehensive and scholarly writing, art-related news, information and art business intelligence.
Peter M. Brant, CEO Brant Publications, Inc.
Headed by art collector and paper executive Peter M. Brant, Brant Publications – publisher of the print journals Art in America, The Magazine Antiques and Modern Magazine – will retain the majority share of the new, publically-traded company, which will be consolidated under a single digital platform at www.artnews.com. Izabela Depczyk will remain as CEO of ARTNEWS S.A., whose properties include ARTnews, Art & Business Monthly and Skate’s Art Market Research. Brant’s Interview magazine is not part of the deal.
Upon completing the merger, ARTNEWS S.A. will maintain Art in America on its current publication schedule of 11 issues a year and will launch a new bundled print subscription offer under the Art in America brand with ARTnews focusing on special themed editions that have proven successful with the readers, such as the best-selling ARTnews issue “The World’s Top 200 Collectors.” The Magazine Antiques will continue to publish six times annually while Modern Magazine will remain a quarterly.
Izabela Depczyk, CEO, ARTNEWS S.A.
According to Depczyk, ARTNEWS S.A. currently enjoys 800,000 unique users per month across all digital platforms but sees traffic expanding to 2,000,000 unique users following the merger. In a joint release, Brant Publications and ARTNEWS S.A. said it would have 52 percent share in the United States print art magazines market.
Brant noted, “We plan to strengthen our focus on digital content and online news reporting across all platforms. The combination of Art in America’s digital resources coupled with those of artnews.com will ensure that the company is the leading online resource for the art and design industries. We also see Skate’s Art Market Research as an area that has a significant growth potential.”
A spokesman for the new company said no staff reductions are anticipated.
