Article Abstract:
Reader's Digest Association Inc. is selling part of its 8,000-piece art collection valued at around $100 million that was compiled by the ailing company's founders Lila and DeWitt Wallace. The artworks, which Sotheby's believes will be sold for $100 million, will help Reader's Digest to pursue renewed growth despite being part of its legacy, noted chairman/CEO Thomas O. Ryder. In addition, BT Alex, Brown, associate analyst Trace Urdin stressed that Reader's Digest's decision to reduce marginally performing direct mail to just 25% from 20% would pose risks despite the resulting higher profits. Reader's Digest will also create direct response TV and radio. The company plans to trim its labor force by the hundreds over the next three-year period.
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Article Abstract:
Reader's Digest plans to reduce its overseas presence in an effort to cut costs. In the UK, the publisher plans to sell its building in the Canary Wharf complex in London and transfer its UK operations to another London location. The company is likewise downsizing its UK children publishing operations and shift its focus towards the "Young Families" catalog business. The company has been having problems with Western Europe where it overmailed existing lists, resulting in reduced response. The strong dollar also adversely impacted the company's profits in the region.
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Reader's Digest has been criticized by the Swedish Direct Marketing Association for conducting a teaser campaign to promote a book collection in a manner deemed offensive. The association's attorney Torsten Brink indicated that the promotional teasers were misleading because the Swedish consumers did not realize that the company was trying to sell books this way. The consumers thought they wereonly participating in a lottery because of the wording in the teasers, stated Brink. Reader's Digest has been criticized for other reasons in the same country before.
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