Hearst Corp Carey 2012 Letter

8/3/2019 Hearst Corp Carey 2012 Letter

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/hearst-corp-carey-2012-letter 1/3

4/12 Hearst Corporation

.hearst.com/press-room/pr-20120103b.php

ABO HEA O BAND PE OOM

A NEW EAR'S LETTER FROM DAVID CARE

The following letter was sent this m orning to U.S. Hearst Magazines employees byHearst Magazines President David Carey.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________

Dear Colleagues,

Welcome to 2012!

I hope your holiday season was happy and that you either enjoyed some personal time

off or found the Hears t offices peaceful and productive at a relatively quieter pace. And

now, were recharged and back in the exciting world of magazines UNBOUN.

The economic climate for the year ahead presents an admittedly confusing picture,

judging from commentators and experts predictions in just the last week: The U.S.economy is poised for a higher level of growth than the less-than-satisfactory 2011or

the debt crisis in Europe represents a threat to our economic growth. The election

season will lift media and advertisingor the gridlock in Washington will further impede

economic progress...

While its hard to make s ense of these conflicting reports, and no one has a crystal

ball, one thing you can be certain of this year: Our companys growth and success, its

continued innovation and creative excellence, and our ability to engage audiences and

outpace our competitors remains firmly in our hands—irrespective of the Dow, the euro

or the professional pundits.

As a company, we achieved an enormous amount in 2011 and s et the stage for a very

important 2012.

You s tretched your capabilities and broadened the definition of what the magazine

company of the future can and should be. By embracing the future, and all that goes

along with it—the capital investment, the expansion into new geographies , the risk

taking, the rethinking of long-held orthodoxies—we remain the leader in our industry.

We have much to be proud of. Our magazine company has nearly doubled in s ize in the

past 18 months. We can thank organic growth, new products and acquis itions for that.

While the scale of progress is important, the areas where we expanded are even more

important: key international markets; digital marketing services (iCrossing just

acquired Red Aril, a data management company); digital media, generally; fulfillment

services (CDS Global acquired PayDQ to accelerate its entry into online billing); and

our core U.S. print operations, which saw the continued growth of Food Network

Magazine and strengthening of a number of our established properties.

Our efforts have resulted in a broadly diversified business—today, roughly 40 percent of

our revenues are U.S. print and digital, 40 percent international print and digital, and 20

percent are services (iCrossing and CDS Global).

Our core print businesses in the U.S. gained share in a tough market. We successfully

merged the U.S. and U.K. Hachette organizations into our existing companies and are





able to realize significant cost synergies through the extraordinary work of our service

departments, particularly our production, IT and consumer marketing teams . Our U.S.

digital media business es were solidly profitable for the first time, and we are excited by

the performance and growth potential of Jumpstart, our online auto network. We

established an enviable pos ition in the fast-growing e-reading space and are now

sell ing more than 400,000 digi tal editions every month. More than 40 of our book titles

are in e-format, with dozens more coming soon. And you continue to work with partners

to find opportunities not apparent to others—the promis ing early test results from

HGTV Magazine, produced in partnership with Scripps Networks, is just the latestexample.

Collectively, we are leading the way forward for all of the magazine industry, and I am

so proud of the approach you are taking in response to the enormous shifts underway

in technology, distribution and consumer preferences.

Now it is time to focus on our objectives for 2012.

Our challenge this year will be to maximize the value of the tremendous investment,

creativity and dedication that has been marshaled so quickly and broadly throughout

our company.

This wi ll be the first full year of operations with the recently acquired Hachette titles in14 countries, and were fortunate to have added s uch impressive talent to our

company. Our greater global reach can only benefit us as we navigate a world that will

likely see s trong economic growth in some regions, and less in others. We will see

significant digital growth in both the Web and e-reading areas. Though overall U.S.

industry print revenue is expected to show modest gains, well invest in product

innovations to s atisfy our readers, thanks to new efficiencies in our overall s tructure.

And, like 2011, we wi ll fund new editorial projects, both print and digital.

A number of our titles will introduce fresh des igns and reimagined editorial formats—

starting with a new look and increased trim s ize for Harpers Bazaar next month. Brand

extensions like Marie Claire @Work and Cosmopolitan Latina are a major push toattract new readers and advertisers . Our close relationship wi th Mark Burnett is already

providing dividends for our magazine brands, less than a year after Hearst acquired a

50 percent stake in his company. We will invest in emerging e-commerce initiatives,

and look forward to the upcoming launch of our two branded YouTube channels . We

will continue to create pathways to bring the very best ideas from our nearly 300

international editions to the U.S.—and vice versa.

Our target is to reach more than one million paid digital subscribers per month via

iTunes, Zinio, Nook, Amazon and Next Issue Media. We will fast-track the transition to

HTML5 for all our s ites, which allows for a far better user experience on m obile devices.

iCross ings “connected brands” s trategy, now bolstered with a more robust dataplatform, posi tions Hearst to grow its leadership position in digital marketing services.

And CDS Global, our second larges t business in the U.S., will continue to add more

technology solutions to serve its increasingly diversified client base.

These are very ambitious objectives. With your help, we will meet them.

As with every advance at Hearst, our people are the key to our success. We will

continue to stretch ourselves in our roles, examining—and, perhaps, reinterpreting—

what each of us does and how we do it. We will push the boundaries of our brands and

products...and hopefully break a few rules along the way.





Theres an old African saying that perfectly describes how to navigate the media

industry today: “If you want to go fas t, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.” What

an apt description of the approach for growing our company—reach across units in the

Magazines Group, across divisions in Hearst Corporation and partner with other media

companies around the globe.

Our goals for 2012 are clear: create new opportunities independent of the

macroeconomic trends, further diversify our established busines ses , streamline our

processes and operations, and empower our people.

Im grateful for your contributions—past, present and future. And, by extension, grateful

for the “team” that surrounds every Hearst colleague: your family, friends and loved

ones. Being part of transformational change in the media business is incredibly

exciting and satisfying, but I know the days can be long and often stretch late into the

nights and weekends, and Im appreciative of the s upport they give you.

I look forward to another year of seeing our amazing talent, our unique culture and our

world-class ass ets rise to meet the future head on. If we work together with the energy

and vision we showed in 2011, I have no doubt that we can continue to engineer the

historic shifts that will drive Hears t Magazines growth in the coming years.

My best wishes to all of you for 2012.

Sincerely,

Hearst Corp Carey 2012 Letter

Documents

Transcript of Hearst Corp Carey 2012 Letter