Family publisher Crain closes UK business title

Crain Communications Inc, the family-owned US publishing company, announced yesterday it is closing its UK regional title Crain's Manchester Business due to a lack of advertising revenue.

Third-generation Chris Crain, editor-in-chief of the publication and vice president of Crain Communications Inc, said: "While we have been pleased with the support received from Crain's Manchester Business readers from the beginning of the project, ultimately the limited support from key advertising sectors has made the business unsustainable."

The publication, which had a circulation of 11,500 in the greater Manchester area, was launched by Chris Crain in 2007 following the model of other Crain magazines in the US. "We introduced a new concept to the UK, based on a successful US weekly business publication model," Crain said.

"In a recessionary environment that withered marketing budgets around the globe, associate publisher Kathryn Toledano and her sales team managed to book 130 different advertisers into the publication," he said.

Crain is not the only family publisher forced to let go of a weekly news magazine; last month saw family-controlled Washington Post Company put its flagship title Newsweek up for sale (continue reading here) and last year McGraw-Hill, still headed by the founding McGraw family, sold BusinessWeek to Bloomberg LP (continue reading here).

Thirty-four year old Chris Crain, grandson of Crain founder Gustavus Crain, was promoted within the family business to group publisher last year following the retirement of non-family publisher Bill Bisson. (Continue reading here)

Crain Communications, one of the US's largest privately held business publishers, was founded in 1916 and now publishes 32 business titles in the US, Europe and Asia. It is currently headed by second-generation brothers Rance and Keith Crain, with several third generation family members also working across the business. 

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