R.R. Bowker acquires Simba Information, already shows signs of rejuvenating the ailing company.

R.R. Bowker, a leading provider of bibliographic information in North America, including its flagship product, Books in Print, recently acquired Simba Information Inc., the market intelligence and forecasting unit of Primedia Inc. (NYSE: PRM).

Terms of the agreement, which took effect September 15, 2003, were not disclosed. R.R. Bowker is a unit of the privately owned Cambridge Information Group. A Bowker spokesman told NL/NL that "Simba will be staying in place with its current staff in Stamford, Connecticut, for the foreseeable future."

A story with many lessons for newsletter publishers

Simba's storied history is one of "a long and winding road" which some observers say became a bumpy one in recent years. All newsletter and information publishers can learn something from that story.

Alan Brigish co-founded Simba Information in 1989, after a 25year career in applying information systems technology to online and electronic publishing services in the U.S. and Europe. Simba's products included business newsletters, research reports and directories, conferences, an online media information network, and consulting services on the global market for information publishing and distribution.

Brigish also made some notable acquisitions--including the purchase of Eliot Minsker's respected Knowledge Industry Publications, the 1968-founded Educational Marketer, the 1975-founded Book Publishing Report, and the Corporate Research Group's Yellow Pages.

Enter Cowles Business Media, then Primedia

In the early 1990s Brigish secured financial support from Cowles Business Media, and in 1995 he sold Simba to Cowles for a sum reported to be much more than $5 million. Cowles hired Megan St. John as general manager in 1997. One year later Cowles was acquired by Primedia Inc., currently a $1.6 billion business, 50 percent owned by the investment firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Company.

In late 2000, Primedia acquired California-based Kagan World Media and its more than 40 high-priced newsletters and other products and consulting services. In January 2001, the acquisition became part of a new subsidiary, Media Central, which combined 172 newsletters, magazines, websites, conferences, databases and other products, including such strong titles as Folio: and Circulation Management magazines. Media Central also subsumed Simba.

"The basic tenets of newsletter and information publishing were broken"

Steven Brill, founder of Brill's Content magazine, Contentville. com, American Lawyer and Court TV, became chairman of Media Central with a minority interest in the subsidiary. Simba essentially lost its automony. That's when its troubles increased.

Media Central eliminated the Simba marketing department and centralized all marketing for its diverse properties in one group.

Of the Kagan-Simba marriage, Megan St. John observed, "Although Media Central/ Primedia attempted to integrate the backroom of the two operations, the result was incomplete at best. Simba proved to be a step child in the priorities of these shared services.

"And promotion and marketing were conducted in fits and starts. In short, for the past two and a half years, Simba has suffered from a striking lack of support or advocacy from the parent. As a result, the basic tenets of newsletter and information publishing were broken."

In one example of Primedia's dropping the ball, in early 1998 Simba acquired the authoritative Ancillary Profits newsletter, founded and published by Marlene Jensen (a member of NL/NL's editorial advisory board). At the time St. John said, "Ancillary Profits is the perfect complement to Folio: and Circulation Management magazines, published by our parent, Cowles Business Media."

But, with the Primedia acquisition, Ancillary Profits was folded into Intertec, where it declined in quality and circulation. It is no longer being published.

Under Brill, Megan St. John's job was eliminated. Simba titles declined dramatically in circulation.

A competitor of Simba's in the education field told NL/NL, "It's amazing that Simba was allowed to go down the drain."

Bright future

Michael Cairns, president of R.R. Bowker, said of the acquisition, "Simba has long been a respected leader in providing business intelligence to publishers, and adding their tremendous product line to the Bowker family is an ideal fit as we strive to enhance the range of publisher services we can offer."

St. John said, "It saddened me to read in one account of the transaction that the 'product line will be managed by ....' Simba was once a much stronger force in the market than a mere product line. Alan Brigish built a wonderfully strong brand that has long outstripped the actual size of the operation.

"I'm glad to see it join up with a good company before the property vaporized due to neglect," she said.

Simba finds good home

"It sounds to me as though Simba has found a good home--at last," St. John continued. "Bowker is doing good things these days and Simba feeds well into their strategy of serving the broader needs of publishers. The fact that Simba plays a key role strategically for Bowker is critical for Simba."

She concluded, "Seems as though Bowker will support and provide the time and attention that Simba really, really needs right now. Just the fact that Bowker has already sent out a promotion is a good sign. In recent months or years just getting a simple promotion out into the market has been a struggle for Simba. So, it was great to see how quickly Bowker was responding."

Bowker, 630 Central Ave., New Providence, NJ 07974, 888-269-5372, www.bowker.com

Simba, 11 River Bend Drive So., Stamford, CT 06907, 203-358-9900.

St. John, 20 Juniper Road, Rowayton, CT 06853, 203-838-4921, fax [phone]

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Marketing, editorial, operations: a fragile balance

Of Simba's incorporation into Media Central and under the shadow of Kagan World Media, Megan St. John, now an independent consultant working with newsletter and information publishers, said, "Marketing, editorial and operations were split up and handled under not only different management structures but also across the country.

"That's not the way to run a newsletter and information company. In order to run a company on this basis, there needs to be a system of advocacy to maintain momentum and to keep the company in the priorities of shared services It's important to keep that triumvirate--marketing, editorial and operations--working well. It's a fragile balance."

She added, "It's interesting but understandable that Simba was sold separately from Kagan. Originally Primedia put them on the market as a package, but the market proved to be for one or the other, not both. The market seemed to understand the differences, even if Primedia never did."