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| Future plc | |
|---|---|
| Type | Plc |
| Founded | Chris Anderson, 1985 |
| Headquarters | Bath, England, UK |
| Key people | Stevie Spring, |
| Industry | Magazine and internet publishing |
| Employees | 1500+ |
| Website | http://www.futureplc.com/ |
Future plc (LSE: FUTR) is a magazine and internet publishing company based in Bath, England. There is also an office in London. Future employs more than 1,500 people worldwide, and is one of the largest publishing houses in the UK. It is responsible for publishing over 150 magazines, in the UK, United States and France.
Contents |
History
Future Publishing was created in 1985 by an unemployed computer journalist, Chris Anderson, working with two colleagues from his wife's parents' house in Somerton, Somerset, England. It began with the publication of Amstrad Action magazine whose success led to the publication of further titles, including 8000 Plus (for the Amstrad PCW) and PC Plus (for PCs). [1] The lively style of writing and incisive, impartial reviews proved very popular, and the company expanded, moving to Bath in the summer of 1987. The company - by now employing two to three dozen staff - was a very early adopter of desktop publishing. The company rapidly expanded over the course of the next ten years, specialising in computing and gaming magazines. During the 1990s it launched many successful and influential titles such as the cerebral games magazine Edge, guide to "Tomorrow's Technology Today" T3 (since evolved into a lifestyle technology magazine) internet title .net and computer design bible Computer Arts. Another long-standing success is multiformat gaming title GamesMaster - launched to accompany the television series of the same name, but going on to outlast it by many years, and remaining the UK's best-selling multiformat games title. Future enjoyed considerable success by developing specialist magazines targeted at enthusiasts, with both the writers and readers sharing the same commitment and knowledge of the subject matter. This approach hit its zenith with cult gaming title Amiga Power, a magazine that cheerfully attacked its own advertisers and other magazines within Future. Regrettably, if unsurprisingly, this style was not duplicated in other titles, but the company has remained focused on producing specialist titles for narrow audience segments. Founder Chris Anderson sold his majority stake in the company in 1994, moving to San Francisco to develop GP Publications, a small US magazine company bought by Future in 1993. Future was bought by Pearson New Entertainment Europe. Several successful titles were launched in the following years including Total Film and - the company's biggest success story, becoming the third best-selling men's magazine in the UK - but Pearson struggled to achieve its goals and in 1998 was put up for sale. The company at that time comprised of Future and French publisher Edicorp, both of which were acquired in a management buyout by the Future board. Chris Anderson backed the buyout and returned as non-executive chairman.
Ensuing success
The company expanded rapidly, opening offices or buying existing companies in Germany, Italy, Poland and Japan. It entered the US market with the purchase of Imagine Media - the renamed company Anderson developed when he first left Future. Due to its specialisation in computing and internet titles, the company was an enthusiastic adopter of internet publishing during the dot-com boom of the late 1990s, launching numerous websites based around its magazine titles and online-focused magazines such as Internet Works, Business 2.0, and the world's first email magazine Future Gamer. Buoyed by its association with the internet and computing, the company floated on the Stock Exchange in 2000 and the share price rocketed to around £9. The success did not last, with share price and profits crashing as the dot-com bubble burst. The company avoided bankruptcy by a rights issue, large-scale redundancies, the sale of Business 2.0 to AOL Time Warner and the sale or closure of its offices in Germany, Poland and Japan. Following several years of consolidation, Future embarked on a new expansion campaign in 2003, acquiring established companies and individual magazines in the UK, France, and the US including PC Zone, Revolver, and Pregnancy and Baby. The company also launched into the children's market with new licensed magazines for the JETIX television channel, and the official Duel Masters magazine based on the popular trading card game. In 2005 Future bought 38 titles from Highbury House, including Fast Car magazine, after the Competition Commission blocked an attempt to buy the company outright, citing a potential monopoly in games magazines. The company has specialised in producing officially-licenced titles, producing the official Nintendo magazine in the UK and Italy, the official Playstation magazine in the UK, and holding a worldwide licence to produce official magazines for the Xbox, Xbox 360, Windows XP and Windows Vista from Microsoft.
Into the new millennium
Since the 2000 crash, the company has halted international expansion in favour of licensing its magazine content to local publishers in international territories. It is currently one of the world's biggest exporters of licensed content. The integration of some of the more recently acquired titles has not been so successful, with the recent disposal of Spanish Homes magazine to Merricks, the closure in July of Wedding Day which was acquired as part of the Beach Publishing acquisition in 2004, and the sale of its whole Italian division to the local publishing company Sprea at the end of November 2006. The company has engaged on a rapid expansion of its on-line activities, most recently Tech.co.uk, a computing and consumer electronics site. The current Chief Executive of Future Publishing UK is Robert Price, who took over from Colin Morrison (formerly MD and COO) in 2004. The current CEO of Future PLC is Stevie Spring who took over from Greg Ingham in 2006. The corporate motto is Media with Passion.
Key titles
Key magazine titles published by Future Publishing include:
- Classic Rock
- Computer Arts
- Consoles +
- Cross Stitcher
- Digital Camera
- DVD Review magazine
- Edge
- Fast Car Magazine
- GamesMaster
- Guitar Techniques
- Guitarist
- ImagineFX
- Linux Format
- MacFormat
- Metal Hammer
- Mountain Biking UK
- .net
- NGamer
- PC Answers
- PC Format
- PC Gamer (UK and US editions)
- PC Plus
- PC Zone
- Rhythm
- SFX
- T3
- Total Film*
- Total Guitar
- What Satellite and Digital TV
- Xbox World
- Your Family Tree
Future Publishing also hold the official license for magazines from Microsoft, Sony, Disney and Nintendo to publish titles such as:
- Official Nintendo Magazine (UK)
- Official UK PlayStation Magazine (UK)
- Official PlayStation 2 Magazine (UK)
- (US & UK)
- (US & UK)
- (France & UK)
- Windows Vista: The Official Magazine
- Disney's Big Time (UK)
- Disney Girl (UK)
Key websites
Key online sites published by Future Publishing include:
- BikeRadar.com link
- Tech.co.uk link
- .net link
- Games Radar link
- Computerandvideogames.com link
- Next Generation link
- T3 link
- Total Film link
- Digital Camera link
- Gadget Candy link
- Windows Vista: The Official Magazine link
Popular defunct titles
- Amstrad Action
- ST/Amiga Format
- ST Format
- Amiga Format
- Amiga Power
- NGC Magazine
- Total!
- Super Play
- MEGA
- Your Sinclair
- New Computer Express
- PC Accelerator
- PlayStation Power
- Sega Power
- DC-UK
- Playstation Max
- Ultra Game Players
References
- ^ Future plc - Company History (28). Retrieved on 2007-12-09.
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| Amstrad Action • Classic Rock • Your Sinclair • PCW Plus • PC Plus • Commodore Format • Amiga Format • ST Format • Linux Format • Mac Format • Metal Hammer • Amiga Power • N64 Magazine • Super Play • Total! • Total Guitar • GamesMaster • Guitarist • Sega Zone • Sega Power • MEGA • EDGE • DC-UK • PC Gamer • PC Zone • ACE |
