Arnoldo Mondadori Editore S.p.A. acquires from Gruner und Jahr Management GMBH, a company of the Bertelsmann Group, 50% of the share capital of the joint-venture Gruner+Jahr/Mondadori S.p.A., of which Mondadori already holds 50%.

This operation will give Mondadori 100% ownership of Gruner+Jahr/Mondadori S.p.A. and exclusive control of the company.

“The acquisition of 100% of Gruner+Jahr/Mondadori is in line with our strategy of consolidating the Group’s leadership in the Italian magazine market by concentrating on the strongest titles with the greatest potential for digital development”, declared Ernesto Mauri, chief executive of the Mondadori Group. “These include Focus, Italy’s most widely read magazine and a perfect example of how a highly successful magazine can become the hub of a multichannel system, from takes in print, to the web, social media and TV. The portfolio includes digital brands such as Nostrofiglio.it portal, which in just a few years has become leader in the parenting segment with a positioning that will integrate perfectly with out current offer”, Mauri concluded.

Gruner+Jahr/Mondadori, the joint venture established in 1990 between the Mondadori Group and Gruner+Jahr, publishes Focus, Italy’s most widely read magazine, with over 5 million readers monthly and total average monthly sales of 367,000 copies in 2014. The success of Focus has also created the spin-offs Focus Storia (total average sales of 86,000 copies in 2014), Focus Junior (total average sales of 117.000 copies in 2014), as well as Focus Pico and Wild. In 2005 the company launched the Italian edition of the international brand Geo.

Alongside the magazines, the company has a network of websites including Focus.it (3 million unique users) and the parenting portal Nostrofiglio.it (2.9 million average unique users January-May 2015).

Gruner+Jahr/Mondadori recorded total revenues in 2014 of €22.9 million.