Mungo Soggot
FINANCE WEEK has been buoying its circulation figures by sending about 2 000 copies of the publication each week to hotel chain City Lodge, which in exchange enjoys free advertising in the financial magazine.
This means 15% of all Finance Week copies sold – R12 000 worth – are given away to readers.
According to the Audit Bureau of Circulation (ABC), the ailing publication, which was recently acquired by former Financial Mail (FM) editor-at-large David Gleason, recorded an average weekly sales count of 13 691 in the six months to June.
City Lodge managing director Clifford Ross this week confirmed the barter arrangement. He said Finance Week provided magazines for certain hotel rooms as well as an additional replacement pile.
ABC chair Rory Macnamara said from July this year “bulk sales” such as these would be clearly flagged. Gleason had not commented at the time of going to press.
The deal was struck last year by Stuart Murray who resigned as managing director of the publication on Tuesday, just weeks after Gleason’s takeover.
Gleason’s acquisition of the magazine paved the way for the defection of former FM editor Nigel Bruce, who replaced Murray as editor.
The magazine, which was bought by Gleason for an undisclosed sum, lost about R2- million in the latest financial year. Gleason has refused to disclose the identity of his backers or comment on rumours about them.
Speculation has centred almost entirely around Randgold, the most likely candidate being Swiss banker Jean-Antoine Cramer, a director of the mining group, and managing director Brett Kebble.
It remains unclear whether any other FM staffers will follow Bruce and Gleason to Finance Week.