Heseltines confirm that Haymarket will remain in the family

by Steve Barrett Media Week 23-Oct-07, 13:40

LONDON - Michael and Rupert Heseltine have confirmed that Haymarket will remain a private, family owned business for generations to come in an interview on Media Week TV that goes live today (www.mediaweek.tv).

In terms of handing on the baton, Heseltine senior said he still had a contribution to make to Haymarket and that, as long as he felt that, he would continue to play a role at the business.

In a supplement produced to commemorate Haymarket’s 50th anniversary, WPP boss Martin Sorrell predicted that a child of Rupert’s would be running Haymarket in 50 years time. Heseltine junior told Media Week TV that Haymarket would not go public on his watch and that he could foresee Sorrell’s prediction coming true.

Speaking to Media Week editor Steve Barrett, the group’s chairman and deputy chairman compared Haymarket’s situation as a private company to the woes currently being experienced by publicly owned media businesses such as Emap.

Rupert Heseltine said: "I believe completely in the family firm philosophy. You only need to look at one of the largest magazine companies in the country to see what’s happening to that as a result of the markets.

"Emap is a fantastic company; it’s got fantastic products. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with it. It just seems that the City wants more and they’re going for blood to get it. Haymarket will not go public on my watch."

Michael Heseltine said: "[What’s happened at] Emap is a tragedy. I’ve admired this company for a long time. It seems to me that the top people there just don’t care about it going on. That’s the real weakness.

"You have a new chairman. He doesn’t want to be chief executive. He’s lost a chief executive, but instead of getting a new one to successfully drive it on, [the philosophy is] break it up, sell it: who cares? I remember the days of Robin Miller and David Arculus – they wouldn’t have done that."

The duo looked back on 50 years of Haymarket and what’s in store for the business in the future. They covered subjects as diverse as newsstand magazine entrepreneurs, globalisation, the impact of the internet on media businesses and their workforces, the implications of the dotcom boom, specialist versus general lifestyle publishing and free consumer magazines.
Michael Heseltine said it was still possible for a women’s magazine such as Eve to thrive, even though it is not part of a wider women’s magazine portfolio.

"People say that [it is easier], and of course if you have the contacts from an established group it makes it easier to launch. But we have been very gratified at the rate of increase in advertising we have achieved. We have one more leap to do, into the fashion field, and we’re going to deal with that."

He didn’t rule out launching consumer magazines in the type of niche fields in which Haymarket specialises, as well as extending existing brands internationally.
The full interview can be viewed now at www.mediaweek.tv

Comments

Clive Goodman - 23/10/2007

Think Hezza's experiences of working with plc's would have warned him off - he certainly doesn't need the money - did he mention Marconi or Westland BTW?