Hachette: No Joint Venture with Hearst

Hachette Filipacchi Media U.S. parent Lagardère Active today denied that it is talks with fellow magazine publisher Hearst Corp. over a joint venture or licensing agreement regarding the U.S. edition of Elle magazine.

Citing an unnamed source, the New York Post reported today that Lagardére is in talks with Hearst Corp. about taking over Elle’s U.S. operations. Hearst most likely would publish Elle for Lagardére, the report said, similar to how it publishes Marie Claire for Paris-based owner Marie Claire Album.

When contacted by FOLIO:, a Hearst spokesperson called the report “pure speculation.”

Through the first six months, Elle has seen advertising pages fall 24 percent to 889.34, according to PIB figures. Ad pages at sister title Elle Décor dropped 29 percent through the same period.

Last month, Hachette sold five titles—American Photo, Boating, Flying, Popular Photography and Sound & Vision—to enthusiast publisher Bonnier Corp. In addition to Elle and Elle Décor, Hachette publishes a number of other titles, including Car and Driver, Road & Track and Woman’s Day.

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