CMP Media Sells HomePC Magazine To Imagine Media

Posted on April 3, 1998

CMP Media Inc. has sold HomePC magazine to Brisbane, Calif.-based Imagine Media, Inc. As part of the transaction, CMP has been granted warrants to acquire a small minority interest in Imagine.

"CMP's greatest strength and expertise in print lies in delivering the information needed by business audiences across the technology spectrum -- the builders, sellers and users of technology," said Kenneth D. Cron, President of Publishing at CMP. "We are delighted that HomePC will now be published by a company whose other publications -- among them boot, MacAddict and PC Gamer -- are aimed at the consumer audience and under whose leadership HomePC will have an opportunity to flourish."

HomePC was the first publication to launch in the home-computing category, and is the circulation, readership and ad-page leader in that market. In 1997 HomePC claimed more than 40 percent of the category's ad pages compared to 29.5 percent for Computer Life and 30.6 percent for Family PC.

Since its 1994 launch, HomePC has received numerous awards. It was named one of the best new launches of 1994 in Samir Husni's Guide to New Magazines and was singled out as "Rookie of the Year" by the Computer Press Association (CPA), which in 1995 named HomePC the Best Broad Interest Magazine.

Imagine Media has a mission to build a media company tailor-made for the 21st century. It targets groups of people who share a passion for technology, and offers them a unique mix of three integrated media (print, CD-ROM and the Internet). The six monthly consumer magazines published by Imagine focus on computing, video games and the Internet. Its publications include boot, MacAddict, Next Generation, PC Gamer, PSM and Game Buyer.