A December 18, 2008 press release from Bonnier Corporation in Winter Park, Florida announces another move in the trend of consolidation and reduction in the publication of specialty magazines dedicated to scuba diving. The most well known of the current scuba publications, Scuba Diving Magazine, has recently been acquired by this Florida based publishing company.  Scuba Diving Magazine is the oldest surviving, and most well-known, monthly magazine publication in the scuba industry, and has lately become best known for scuba travel advertising. Bonnier Corporation, a publishing company that specializes in enthusiast publications, is home to some of the most well-known names in sports publications. Their brands include those dedicated to boating and yachting, skiing, snow sports, and a variety of outdoor pursuits. They are most well-known for specific, widely circulated brands like Popular Science and Field and Stream. Bonnier recently acquired Sports Diver magazine.  They are also the publishers of the PADI Undersea Journal, a trade publication for PADI dive instructors and diving professionals.  With the addition of  the Scuba Diving brand , they will clearly be the leader in scuba diving publications and will have a corner on the scuba magazine advertising market.   The addition of the Scuba Diving brand also gives them the popular online presence at scubadiving.com, an online portal very popular with beginning scuba divers.  The text of the Bonnier press release announcing this acquisition is provided below.

New York, NY – Bonnier Corporation, publisher of Sport Diver, today announced the purchase of Scuba Diving magazine from F+W Media Inc. The acquisition positions Bonnier as the dominant media company in the dive industry and expands its presence as the pre-eminent enthusiast sports publisher in the world.

The deal includes a significant new online presence for Bonnier. ScubaDiving.com hosts one of the largest online communities in the dive industry and will complement Sport Diver’s ongoing digital initiatives.

“Scuba Diving is a perfect strategic fit for us,” says Bonnier Corp. CEO Terry Snow. “We serve the enthusiast market better than anyone in the business, so adding Scuba Diving to our existing Sport Diver title will only enhance our relationship with the dive industry and its passionate audience.”

“F+W Media has made a strategic shift from traditional print publisher to integrated media company,” said David Nussbaum, Chairman & CEO of F+W Media. “Our future success will grow from our community model and by giving full focus to our core categories – those with the most opportunity for growth and profit potential through events, competitions, books, magazines and online. Only after a considerable portfolio review did we determine to exit the scuba diving marketplace. We are pleased to be able to place the title with Bonnier, a better strategic fit for the magazine and the category overall.”

“Scuba Diving is a strong and respected brand,” says Dave Freygang, Vice President of Publishing for Bonnier’s Enthusiast Division. “We understand that the lifeblood of the diving industry is bringing in and retaining divers. We will work with our marketing and strategic partners to do just that and, at the same time, offer the industry the best return on investment with the most experienced editorial and sales staffs in the business.”

Scuba Diving and Sport Diver will now be aligned with The Undersea Journal, a publication Bonnier produces for PADI, the sport’s largest certification agency, creating the new Bonnier Dive Group, which will fall under the Enthusiast Group.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Phil Ellis
Buy Discount Scuba Gear at DiveSports.com