NewYorkBusiness.com: Primedia's losing act may continue

As reported in the lastest Wooden Horse Publishing newsletter:

Is Primedia sliding into oblivion?  According to an article in newyorkbusiness.com, the stock is down 49% this year to $1.95. Its debt is a staggering $1.4 billion and, except for last year, it has lost money every year since 1996; it is on its third top executive in three years.  And ominously, some of the popular magazines it hasn't sold off, like MOTOR TREND, are faltering and are being redesigned, which always shake up the staff…

From the NewYorkBusiness.com article:

[Primedia] unveiled plans to divide up what remains of its once prominent magazine business. That split comes less than three months after Primedia sold a package of its trade magazines to financier Bruce Wasserstein for $385 million, and less than two years after it sold him its prestigious New York magazine for $55 million.

At the heart of Primedia’s problems is a hugely expensive $1.4 billion debt load that smothers any profits. At this point, the best hope for investors may be for Primedia to be acquired or broken up.

Primedia owns Creating Keepsakes, Simple Scrapbooks, CrafTrends, and Paper Crafts magazines.