Taking their media empire online, Reader's Digest has just announced the
purchase of Allrecipes.com for $66 million. The publisher had only 7
magazines in its organization eight years ago, but today they have 20 in publication, as well as 40 websites. Their
magazines include Taste of Home and Everyday with Rachael Ray, in addition to their flagship magazine, Reader's
Digest. A company spokesman said "it instantly gives us Seattle cool and online credibility." The sale also
gives them a large advertising revenue, as the major source of income for Allrecipes.com was through advertisements
placed on their site.
Reader's Digest plans to make Allrecipes.com the center point of its online operations, the main portal to its other magazines and websites, potentially taking content from it to put into some of its printed media. Though spokespeople from the company denied it, the move is a fairly obvious attempt to attract younger readers to the pages of Reader's Digest.
Allrecipes.com is a user-supported community comprised of 1.8 million members, the majority of whom are home cooks. Membership, which is free, allows users to create online profiles, share recipes and leave feedback on the recipes that other users have posted. In February, it was the third most popular food site on the web in terms of page views, behind the Food Network and Kraft Foods.
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