Cahners Publishing, one of the largest B2B media companies in nearly 60 years, was founded by legendary publisher Norman Kanas. Last year, journalist Steve Maas published Norman's biography, "In a niche by himself: the norman cahners story," an excerpt from which to show the rise and fall of Kanas Publishing in an attempt to open a window into the B2b giants and the publishing industry of the time.
In February 1966, International Publishing Corp. (ipc) acquired a 40 percent stake in Cahners Publishing for $12.5 million (current value of $90 million). The money was huge for Kanas Publishing at the time, but for IPC in Britain, it was only a fraction of its $392 million sales in 1965. The multimedia empire employs 30,000 people and operates 20 newspapers – including London's Daily Mirror (with a global circulation of 5.2 million) – more than 200 commercial and consumer magazines and a publishing house, as well as trade shows and television. By comparison, Canas had only 600 employees, 17 publications, and $20 million in advertising sales.
The acquisition, which extended from the Caribbean to East Asia, also gave it a foothold in the United States, which the New York Times reported as "the first big step for a foreign company to get involved in the publishing industry." "And the British side is concerned not only about the injection of funds, but also about confidence in Canas.
"It's still our company, and we're still running it," Kanas told Advertising Age magazine, "we flesh out the 'flesh and blood' of IPC, and most importantly we have jurisdiction, except for newspapers and mass print media, we handle all of iPC's business in the U.S." For Kanas, the $12.5 million acquisition fulfilled his personal dream of "seeing how well he could do in a big group."
The deal gave Kanas the ability to acquire more U.S. business magazines while also pushing it onto the international stage. "We want to integrate the operating model and mechanism that (IPC) has in place in a short period of time," Kanas said, "and we can now provide worldwide marketing services for American advertisers and also help them contact any IPC magazine." "From an editorial point of view, this acquisition is also very beneficial. Under the exchange agreement, Canas can tap into IPC's resources of more than 1,200 journalists around the world.
Before investing in Kanas Publishing, iPC had done its homework. Feller Serren, who oversees the deal, spent 3 years investigating the U.S. market. "During that time, I went to the United States to investigate the field more than a dozen times," Said Sheron, and four of the five investigation teams selected Kanas, "I got permission from the IPC board of directors and finalized the contract with Kanas Publishing within 24 hours." ”
Another IPC manager, Frank Rogers, said in a speech after the acquisition of Kanas:
"Why did IPC choose Kanas Publishing over other better-known companies? In a word: We think Canas is the fastest-growing, most enterprising, and most efficient commercial publisher in the United States. In our deep dive with Norman Canas, we also found that he was not only charismatic, kind and upright, but also full of drive, judgment and efficiency.
At the 70th anniversary dinner of Canas, Rogers said that in his 47-year career, Norman Kanas is one of the few friends that he wants to make deep friends both at work and in private, "I have always thought that few business partners at work can become trustworthy friends, but Norman is such a person." 」 ”
iPC sent three management staff to serve on the Board of Directors of Kanas, two of whom Rogers and Serene were. A month before the acquisition, Godwitz was appointed chairman, and after the acquisition, the chairman and CEO remained unchanged, both of whom were still from Kanas. Advertising Times quotes an industry watcher as saying of Godwitz: "He's one of the most underrated people in the commercial publishing space." ”
On January 1, 1968, the headline in The New York Times was "Canas Will Usher in a Huge Acquisition." The Boston-based publisher announced the acquisition of New York-based Conover-mast, which has nearly 2/3 of Kanas's revenue and has twice the history of Kanas. The deal is considered the largest merger in the history of Commercial Press, and Canas' annual earnings are expected to grow to $4.76 million (current value of $32 million). That means Canas will leap to the top of commercial publishing — still behind McGraw Hill, who earns $13 million a year.
Mason Farcott, a retired employee of Kanas, said the deal surprised the entire publishing industry, with some asking, "Who is this 'upstart' publisher who bought New York's established commercial trade magazine?" ”
Conover-mast is the tenth company acquired by Canas since its first acquisition of Metal Working in 1956, and its portfolio also includes 37 monthly, semi-monthly and directories.
In 1973, Kanas filed a prospectus with the Securities & Exchange Commission with plans to list. But by then the stock market had plummeted and Wall Street had lost its appeal. At the same time, the British iPC is also waiting for an opportunity. A decade ago, iPC acquired a 40% stake in Kanas, and now iPC is part of Reed International. Reed's business spans a wide range of areas, from publishing to papermaking. By purchasing 40% of Norman Canas' individual shares, Reed managed to own 4/5 of the company.
At that time, Norman and his son-in-law David Paraclaus analyzed in detail the pros and cons of selling shares. "They (Reed) have been trying to buy Norman's stake for several years, and Norman has been refusing to sell it, and then they've raised the price," Paclos said. He said to Norman at the time: "You don't have to sell your shares, you don't have to do anything." The company is something you worked on, and you can run it until you go bankrupt. But Norman finally got to the point, "I don't know where the company is going to end up, and I'm not going to get a higher price." He felt that the price "was an affirmation of his duties and achievements."
However, Norman was uneasy. "He didn't know if he would still be the decision-maker of the company, which made him anxious," said Norman's brother Walter, "and he fantasized about being the boss of the company after selling his shares." ”
Henry Hobakzuski, a legal officer involved in that year's deal, recalled that after Norman decided to sell his shares, negotiations stumbled and the other side nitpicked on many details. "I was impressed by the wisdom of the negotiators on the other side, and I would even prefer to work for the other side." (Ten years later, Hobakzusky fulfilled his wish to become the leader of The Reed's legal department.) ）
In addition to Norman and Godwitz, there are two other future chairmen of the Canas division of Reed International: Ron Siegel (Vice President of Finance) and Robert Krakow (show team leader). Khobakzusky called them an "all-star team," and Norman gave him the impression of "a man who was extremely kind and elegant in a high-pressure environment, knowing that he was selling his "children."
At the same time, it also means giving up power to the company. Although Norman had a good relationship with the new proprietor, the ownership was no longer there. Reed entrusted Godwitz and Siegel to run the company, and although he retained the chairmanship of Norman until 1985, he had actually been squeezed out of the leadership core. "Norman and Reed International have different opinions on how to run the company," Walter said.
Although the British admired Norman as a visionary leader, they might prefer to work with hands-on managers, such as Godwitz. "Norman was very creative, and the British knew he was a genius, but when it came to complex matters, only Siegel could keep them informed," said Norman's secretary, Marion Osman.
Norman Canas
Although Norman's authority was weakened, his presence was still "exploding": the corporate atmosphere he cultivated and the chain of command he created with Godwitz indirectly reflected his presence; his presence was directly reflected when he was entrusted with weighing important decisions or dealing with corporate affairs.
More than 30 years later, Skip Farber still remembers how much Norman's speech at a management conference shook him. "He made it very clear: 'Everybody has a chance, we're doing bigger business now, there are a lot of old guys in the leadership right now, who's going to get promoted to leadership?' Farber seemed to be able to feel the sincerity and sharpness of Norman's speech. Norman is long gone to lead the company, but his name is still remembered and, more importantly, the future of Canas is a large part of his legacy. Farber said the speech reflected Norman's style of speech, "It is the efforts of all of you here that make the company what it is today." So who will lead the company tomorrow? ”
Behind the scenes, Norman is also quietly using his influence. In 1984, Kanas had the opportunity to acquire interior design magazine. This will mark Canas' first foray into the subscription distribution market. With a large readership and sought after by architects and interior designers, Interior Design will also be The first newsstand magazine in Canas.
But the acquisition of Interior Design faces a problem. As a seller, Whitney Communications wanted to package Interior Design and other magazines — Hockey News and Art in America — to Canas. Interior Design could have made Canas' published products more complete, but other magazines were redundant. So how do you convince Whitney Communications to abandon bundling?
According to Siegel's aide Tim O'Brien, the top brass was brainstorming in Norman's office at the time, and the room was so dimly lit that it took some time to adjust. Norman did not preside over the meeting. In fact, in the beginning, he just sat in the back and listened. But in the end, he made a suggestion: lower the price of bundling and raise the price of Interior Design. This idea, which O'Brien called "genius," worked.
O'Brien believes that By then Norman no longer clings to the leadership position, "he wants to power, he admits that it is already the era of Siegel." ”
In his later years, Norman developed blood cancer, scientifically known as multiple myeloma. "His first instinct was that the doctor had made a mistake," said Osman, who thought he could find an effective cure with all the money he could, "and he couldn't accept that there was no cure for his illness." ”
Initially, the doctor's treatment achieved some results, and Norman's condition eased. But then the cancer returned, and he spent the last year of his life in the torment of illness. His bones were extremely fragile by the destruction of cancer cells, and the slight vibration of the wheelchair could make Norman feel severe pain. The former tough guy fell, losing less than 100 pounds (about 91 pounds). Walter often visited his brother during his brother's chemotherapy treatment, "He's not himself anymore, he just has a feeling of wanting to give up." ”
As a result of chemotherapy, Norman's immune system was defenseless, and he developed pneumonia and eventually died on March 14, 1986. On April 1 of that year, the day Norman officially retired, his daughter Nancy said, "I often felt that he died at the right time, and I don't think he would have lived a life that had nothing to do with Kanas." ”
Siger also died of cancer in 1991 at the age of 56. After this, Kanas quickly lost his spiritual core. Businesses are "less vibrant, open, and smart," Khobakh zusky says, "and by the early nineties, they found it was good as long as the company made money." ”
Veteran employees say that since Reed merged a Dutch publisher into Reed Elsevier in 1992, Canas has accelerated its decline. "The new leaders in Canas were less talented and dynamic," said Ella Siegel, who later became head of The Reed Elsevier's legal database lexis nexis, "they know the bottom line of the ledger and know how to tamper with data on the balance sheet." ”
Because the economic downturn led to a slump in advertising sales for business magazines, the head office continued to cut costs and sought high-priced acquisitions. After the merger of Reed International, Globe magazine columnist Alex Bim wrote: "The company clippings of Canas read like the diary of Napoleon's defeat in Moscow. ”
Tracing the twists and turns of Reed Elsevier's development story is a challenge for any nineteenth-century Russian writer. In 1997, after acquiring chilton Business Group, a magazine publisher with research institutes and trade shows, Reed Elsevier Business Information, along with Kanas, was headquartered in Newton County, but senior officials at the head office hinted that the address would change again.
The new company name took only nine months, and in March 1998, The Reed Elsevier program merged with Dutch publisher Wolters kluwer and the Canas name was reactivated. Bruce Barnett, chairman and CEO of the new Canas Business Information, said the previous name was revived because it still has a strong level of recognition in the market. As a result, the merger plan was not successful, but the name of Canas was retained. In February 2002, the name Canas was again deprecated, and Reed Elsevier consolidated all of its commercial information assets and named Reed Business Information.
In the following years, Reed Elsevier sold many magazines that had once belonged to the Kanas Empire, but named a branch of the company "Kanas" and set up an award called "Canas". But by 2013, the name "Canas" had finally disappeared.