F+W announced May 5th that Tinicum L.P. and certain affiliated funds managed by Tinicum Incorporated (“Tinicum”) have completed a majority investment in F+W, A Content + eCommerce Company (www.fwmedia.com). F+W also owns Digital Book World (DBW).
Tinicum is a private investment firm based in New York. F+W has a century-old history of serving enthusiast vertical markets through a diversified portfolio of media, ecommerce sites, online education, events, retail locations, and direct-to-consumer catalog businesses. Terms of the deal were not released.
“We have been looking for management teams with a successful formula to transition from traditional media to the new, digital world,” said Terry O’Toole, Tinicum’s co-managing partner, “and we believe F+W’s management is at the forefront of those making that transition.”
“The Tinicum team is an ideal partner for F+W. They truly understand our unique business and strategy,” said David Nussbaum, F+W’s Chairman & CEO. As other media companies are now entering the ecommerce arena, F+W has grown its ecommerce business from $6 million in sales in 2008 to an estimated $60 million by the end of 2014. The Company owns and operates 30 vertical ecommerce stores serving more than 20 million consumers annually. “This investment will enable us to continue to rapidly grow our ecommerce revenues by building on our platforms and creating best-in-class content and ecommerce solutions. Our singular focus on our communities and creating an unrivaled experience for our consumers will not change,” added Nussbaum.
The F+W Executive Committee, led by Nussbaum, will remain with the Company, and Nussbaum will continue as Chairman of the Company’s new Board of Directors. He expressed his thanks to the former Board of Directors for their time, support, and dedication to F+W.
“Our goal remains to offer our enthusiast consumers all the information, solutions, supplies, education and how-to material they need to passionately pursue their hobbies,” added Nussbaum.
Tinicum’s investment will bolster F+W’s ability to aggressively target both bolt-on and larger-scale acquisitions to build out its core categories of craft, art, writing, design, lifestyle, and outdoors. In the past two years, the Company has completed multiple acquisitions, including leading craft-focused companies Interweave and New Track Media. The investment will also fuel further organic growth and entry into new enthusiast markets. Previously, F+W launched online video instruction sites (CraftDaily.com) and entered into a 50/50 joint venture with Hubert Burda Media to run their BurdaStyle brand in the US and Canada.
About Tinicum Tinicum is a private investment firm with more than 25 years of experience investing in public and private companies. For more information, please visit www.tinicum.com.
