Immediate Media originated from the combined assets of several formerly independent publishing houses, including BBC Magazines, Magicalia,
Future plc, Hitched and
Jewellery Maker. In late 2011 the BBC's magazine-publishing business was sold to Exponent Private Equity, following clearance by the
Office of Fair Trading. Exponent had previously acquired Magicalia Limited, a digital
publisher and platform provider based in London. Magicalia was founded in 1999 by Adam Laird and Jeremy Tapp. Its inaugural website was bikemagic.com. In 2000, it began offering
B2B publishing services, with clients such as ''
Runner's World'' magazine. In 2011 Magicalia's assets were combined with those of Origin Publishing and BBC Magazines to form Immediate Media. Tom Bureau, then-CEO of Magicalia, became the Chief Executive of the new company. In May 2014 Immediate Media acquired Future plc's sport and craft titles. The sport portfolio included the websites Bikeradar.com and
Cyclingnews.com and the magazines
Cycling Plus,
Procycling and Mountain Biking UK. The craft titles included
Love Patchwork and
Quilting, Simply Knitting, and Mollie Makes. In January 2015, Immediate Media acquired Hitched.co.uk, a UK wedding planning brand. In November 2015 Immediate Media acquired its first television property, Jewellery Maker, a TV and online commerce platform, from the Genuine Gemstone Company, adding to its Crafts and Arts portfolio. Jewellery Maker employed over 100 people at the time of its acquisition. It has since expanded into TV, video and
e-commerce. Hubert Burda Media acquired Immediate Media in 2017, for £270 million (5-6 x
EBITDA). In 2019, Immediate Media sold
Procycling magazine and the Cyclingnews.com website back to Future plc. == Divisions ==