DC Thomson takes full ownership of ShortList Media

The sale follows ShortList Media being run as a 50/50 joint venture with DC Thomson since minority investors divested shares in December 2013.

The media company posted revenues of £23m for the year to end of August 2014.

Led by chief executive Mike Soutar, Shortlist Media pioneered the free, quality weekly magazine format when it launched men’s magazine ShortList in 2007, which Soutar would go on to term “freemium”.

ShortList soon became the biggest distributing magazine in the men’s lifestyle sector with an audited weekly ABC in excess of 500,000.

Two years later, and despite a tough economic climate, the company launched Stylist, the free weekly women’s magazine, in October 2009.

Despite entering a highly competitive sector, Stylist has carved a strong role for itself by tapping into the lucrative fashion and beauty market with a print distribution in excess of 400,000.

Digitally, Shortlist Media has created significant scale. Launched in 2010, ShortList.com and Stylist.co.uk are powerful, fast-growing websites for urban men and women.

Source: Media news & media jobs

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