Cross Media Marketing Corp., which markets magazine subscriptions and memberships online and by phone, will expand into direct response newspaper advertising by acquiring National Syndications (NSI) for $19.6 million, the firm announced today.
The price, part of which will be tied to future performance, will be paid in cash, notes and stock.
NSI, which reported revenue of $55 million for 2001, sells products through the pages of Parade magazine, USA Today Weekend and American Profile. It reaches 62.5 million households per week through 1,500 newspapers.
NSI’s owner, Bud Pironti, said in a statement that “NSI’s customers will be very receptive to Cross Media’s magazine and membership products.”
Cross Media CEO Ronald Altbach commented in a statement that the purchase is an “important step in our strategy to become a dominant multi-channel, multi-product direct sales and marketing organization.” The firm expects NSI to be “immediately accretive.”
This is the second acquisition for Cross Media in only a few months. Last October, it acquired LifeMinders, a provider of customized online content.
Founded in January 200 as Symposium Corp., Cross Media has projected revenue of $200 million for its 2002 fiscal year, and hopes to eventually hit up to $500 million in sales, half of this through organic growth. During its first year of operation, it acquired Direct Sales International and WeFusion.
Altbach noted that the firm has “deployed a portion of the cash obtained in the LifeMinders acquisition to increase earnings.”
Cross Media has a 30 million-name consumer database, and makes 18 million consumer contacts per year through its call center programs.
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