Specialist publisher Future has offered £140m for generalist TI Media’s 41 brands, which will give Future 220 global brands upon expected completion in Spring 2020. The acquisition, which includes wholesaler Marketforce, is contingent upon shareholder and CMA approval.

Future is the darling of publisher stocks, pursuing an energetic growth and scale strategy, and diversifying revenues through digital and experience innovation.

How Future’s culture of experimentation and optimisation will work with TI Media’s more general portfolio is an open question. Only time will tell if the overall portfolio balance will work.

Contents

A tale of two portfolios

How different is Future’s model?

Future’s M&A strategy

List of charts/tables

Figure 1. Acquisition pathway of TI Media in recent years

Figure 2. TI Media revenue breakdown (£m)

Figure 3. Overlapping categories by number of brands

Figure 4. Future’s monetisation model for each vertical

Figure 5. Future’s acquisitions since 2017 (value)