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Founded in 1922, The Reader's Digest Association, Inc. is one of the world's preeminent publishers and direct marketers, a $2.8–billion–revenue media firm reaching over 100 million consumers. Reader's Digest, the flagship, is the largest–selling magazine in the world, with 50 editions and in 21 languages, following new launches during the past year in Romania, Slovenia, Croatia and China. The magazine is sold in more than 60 countries. In addition to Reader’s Digest, the company’s assets include 42 other magazines, 68 million books, music and video products sold annually; and Web sites with a combined 18 million visitors a month in the U.S. RDA markets these products through a wide range of channels including direct mail, display marketing, direct response television, catalogs, retail and the Internet, building a global customer base that ranks among the worlds largest. The New Face of RDA: The Reader's Digest Association, Inc. went public in 1990, offering common stock on the New York Stock Exchange. On March 3, 2007, an investor group led by Ripplewood Holdings L.L.C. completed an historic transaction resulting in the acquisition of RDA, returning the company to private ownership status after 17 years. Two other companies in Ripplewood's portfolio, WRC Media and Direct Holdings Co., were brought into RDA, making the total value of the transaction approximately $2.6 billion. Mary Berner, former President and CEO of Fairchild Publications, was named President and CEO of the Reader's Digest Association. Mary Berner’s first week, she made the first of two strategic moves, regrouping the company's U.S. assets in ad–friendly clusters of consumers' interests called "affinities". Next she launched The FACE Plan, a three–year strategy aimed at transforming RDA into a high–performing organization. The letters in FACE are an acronym for the attributes that will be critical to our success: Fast, Accountable, Candid and Engaged. The three key goals are savings, growth and culture change. Growth will come through focus and execution, complemented by growth goals that include the potential for six to ten launches and acquisitions in the next 12 months. Culture is an ongoing initiative as Reader’s Digest moves towards a performance based system of rewarding results.
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