Company Wins Back $500 Million Printing Contract

Company Wins Back $500 Million Printing Contract
Quad/Graphics Wins Back Hearst Magazine’s $500 Million Printing Contract

Quad/Graphics Inc. (QUAD) will continue to be the primary printer for publications such as Esquire, Good Housekeeping and Cosmopolitan after securing a new long-term agreement with Hearst Magazines, valued at over $500 million.

Quad/Graphics, Inc. is a leading American printing company, founded by Harry Quadracci in 1971, and headquartered in Sussex, Wisconsin. The company owns 39 printing facilities in the United States, and has facilities throughout Europe, Canada, and Latin America, providing a diverse range of print and related products, services and solutions. Quad prints a number of magazines, which includes BusinessWeek, Milwaukee Magazine, Sports Illustrated, Time, and People.

The $500 million contract

Under the new agreement Quad/Graphics will continue to be the key printer for Hearst Magazines’ through 2020.

Since 2011, Quad/Graphics has been Hearst Magazines’ largest print supplier. The agreement, which runs through 2020, implies that Quad's presses will mass produce 20 of Hearst's 21 U.S. magazine titles, including Cosmopolitan, Good Housekeeping, O-The Oprah Magazine, Elle, Esquire, Popular Mechanics and Car and Driver, as well as advertising inserts.

Hearst Magazines, which is a unit of Hearst Corporation, founded by William Randolph Hearst over a century ago, is one of the nation’s largest diversified media and information companies. Hearst is the top publisher of monthly magazines in terms of total paid circulation (AAM 2H 2014) with 21 titles in the U.S., which reaches nearly 81 million readers in print ) and approximately 44 million site visitors each month.

The full-service continuum of media, mailing and associated distribution solutions to deliver best quality content in the most effective and efficient manner possible has made Quad/Graphics the best choice for Hearst. Hearst also capitalises on Quad/Graphics’ inclusive publication workflow solutions and the all new Publisher’s Studio Editorial, to plan and produce content for print and digital media. Quad/Graphics helps Hearst save considerable proportion of cost in postage and logistic service for their magazines by supporting the magazine honcho through its strong co-mail and distribution programmes, while continuously upgrading its delivery turnaround timeline and preserving product state.

Quad/Graphics prints consumer magazines, catalogues, books, and special interest publications. The company has approximately 25,000 employees worldwide and over 50 production plants on three continents, and generates about $4.8 billion in sales annually.

Quad/Graphics prospects

The extended agreement with Hearst Magazines is a sure sign of the growth and professionalism of Quad/ Graphics, Inc. According to Joel Quadracci, Chairman, President and CEO of Quad/Graphics, with an impressive range of magazine titles, Hearst has gained expertise in the art of creating content, displaying the power of print in a multichannel universe, and securing more than 80 million readers every month. Quad expects the contract to help the company grow along with Hearst, both in terms of performance and innovation.

In Wisconsin, contractual printing press operators, who work for publishers and advertisers are listed as the biggest industries in the region, in terms of economic output and employment. Quad tops the list by being the biggest amongst its competitors, with dozens of prominent national titles.

Parting words

The emergence of the internet, which has led to a heightened number of e-readers and touch screen users, has resulted in a decline in readership for ink-on-paper publishing, making this industry a difficult one. But this has not deterred Quad/ Graphics, who has acquired eight rival printing companies since 2009, in order to expand with new titles and market share.

The company has been expanding impressively over the last few years and the new agreement with Hearst only seals the fact that Quad/ Graphics is here to stay.