Time Inc. to Enter Women’s Magazine Field

NEW YORK â€”  Time Inc. said Thursday that it plans its first foray into women’s magazine publishing as half-owner of a joint venture that will own Working Woman, Working Mother and McCall’s magazines.

Time said it has agreed in principle to put up $44 million toward a venture with Dale W. Lang, Working Woman’s owner, that intends also to buy Working Mother and McCall’s magazines from McCall Publishing Co. for an undisclosed sum. Lang, who is credited with turning around Working Woman, will be managing partner in the venture and, according to sources, will contribute assets and capital worth $44 million.

Time officials said the move realized the company’s longtime desire to enter women’s magazine publishing, which has been one of the healthiest segments of the business in recent years. Last year, for example, revenues of magazine advertising categories targeted at women grew 8.5%, compared to 4.5% for ad spending for magazines as a whole, said Robert L. Miller, the Time Inc. group publisher who will represent Time on the joint venture’s board.

Officials said the venture plans to concentrate on the “high-achieving woman.�

Folded Picture Week

The venture represented another of Time’s recent moves to buy into--rather than start--magazines, which in recent years have become both more expensive and riskier. Two weeks ago, Time pulled the plug on its mass-market Picture Week magazine, which had cost the company $30 million during its lengthy test phase.

Yet a spokesman for Time insisted that the company continues to develop its own magazine ideas, pointing to the specialized Quality and Leisure magazines, which are now being tested.

The venture announced Thursday is expected to have revenue of about $125 million in its first year and a pretax operating profit margin of about 10%.

Lang, who proposed the venture to Time, is credited with turning around Working Woman after buying it in 1976. The magazine’s subscription base has grown to 770,000 from 90,000 in 1976, while revenue has also advanced steadily, rising to $24 million last year from $20 million in 1984.