Time Inc. Buying Shopping Recommender StyleFeeder
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Time Inc. (NYSE: TWX) is buying social shopping site StyleFeeder to add more e-commerce to its magazine mix, starting with InStyle.com. No terms were disclosed, although a source tells the Wall Street Journal, which first reported the deal, that the price ran “well into eight figures.”
SEE ALSO: Shopping Site StyleFeeder Raises $500,000
StyleFeeder has raised $3.5 million in funding since its 2005 debut, including a round of $500,000 last May from existing investors Highland Capital Partners and Schooner Capital. At the time, StyleFeeder’s founder Philip Jacob claimed that the site was profitable.
Faced with a continuing struggle for ad dollars, publishers are increasingly looking for ways to add e-commerce to their sites. Over the past year, publishers like Conde Nast and Hachette Filipacchi Media U.S have struck deals with invitation shopping site operators like Gilt Groupe and Rue La La.
Time Inc.‘s addition of StyleFeeder will be limited to the publisher’s fashion titles, which haven’t performed as badly as magazines in the financial and news areas. Fran Hauser, president of Digital, Style & Entertainment Group at Time Inc., says that StyleFeeder will help influence the creation of new retail products by working alongside its existing properties. It will become integrated with fashion magazine InStyle’s site. Eventually, it could also be closely aligned with other titles, such as Essence and People en Español.
Posted In: Advertising, E-Commerce, Media & Publishing, Magazines, Money, M&A & Venture Capital, Mergers & Acquisitions, Companies, Time Warner, Time Inc., stylefeeder
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