Whatever happened to the Readers Digest?

The Reader's Digest Association is bought by a private equity-backed group for $2.4 billion.

The deal does not change RDA's overall strategy, says the president and CEO, in a letter to employees.

"A very experienced and savvy private equity firm has looked hard at our assets and our plans and decided that RDA is the place to invest and that it will grow," he wrote in the letter. "This is ultimately the most valuable form of validation because they are backing their belief in us with their money and their reputation."

I wonder? One good change to make would be to redesign the US web site. Something like the UK site would not be a bad starting point.

It will be interesting to see if RDA tries and builds upon its older audience or makes a dash for youth.

Ripplewood's media holdings include Time-Life, the video and music direct marketing unit it bought from Time Inc.; and WRC Media, publisher of the Weekly Reader and other educational publications. It looks like it is amassing ‘oldies’ type titles. Dick Stroud