On ailing media market, Mediafax Group takes over licenses to print GQ and Glamour in Romania

Romanian media company Mediafax Group bought the licenses to print Gentlemen's Quarterly (GQ) and Glamour in Romania from Conde Nast Internaţional. The two magazines will add to the group's existing publications, the lifestyle magazine The One, the sports daily ProSport and business daily Ziarul Financiar, among others. The group also owns the news agency Mediafax.

The move is one of the few additions and a new bet on the local print media market, which has been suffering in recent years, when magazines and newspapers closed down or moved exclusively online. The print run of most publications in Romania took a nosedive in the recent period – we wrote about the print media market here. “These are two brands that can become promising engines to accelerate our development strategy, especially in an area where creativity and content can generate better market share and a more loyal readership,” said Orlando Nicoară, CEO of Mediafax Group. Conde Nast, a division of Advance Publications, currently publishes 138 magazine brands on 25 markets, such as Vanity Fair, Vogue, GQ, Glamour, Wired and Conde Nast Traveller. Mediafax Group is owned by Romanian investor Adrian Sarbu, who is also the CEO of CME, the company which owns the ProTV channel in Romania. editor@romania-insider.com