Desmond shuts down Happy with the loss of up to 20 jobs

by Mark Banham and Alex Donohue, Brand Republic 23-Mar-07, 12:25

LONDON - Northern & Shell, the publishing house owned by Richard Desmond, has closed its shopping title Happy with the loss of up to 20 jobs.

The magazine featured shopping tips and beauty and home features and was one of the first UK magazines to address the issue of personal shopping. Staff are understood to have been informed of the closure of the magazine last night.

Happy's circulation rose 2.9% over the last six months to 86,236 in the last Audit Bureau of Circulation figures. The title, which had a cover price of £2.50, faced stiff competition in the women's magazine market from Emap's weekly fashion magazine Grazia, priced at £1.80, and IPC Media's new title Look, priced at £1.30, among others.

Happy was launched in April 2005 with a £10m budget, targeting a predominantly female audience and featured content linked to the Express Shopping TV Channel.

Happy was sold across newsstands and also through fashion retailers including Accessorise and Bhs.

Previous titles in the sector had suffered a similar fate. A year before Happy launched, The National Magazine Company axed Shop!, and Emap had to shelve plans for a similar shopping-based title.

Desmond is the proprietor of national newspaper the Daily Express, which is also published by Northern & Shell.