A PUBLIC QUAD GRAPHICS COULD IMPACT MILWAUKEE MAGAZINE

WOULD A PUBLICLY TRADED QUAD GRAPHICS
RETAIN THE CITY MONTHLY MAGAZINE?

Special to the Readers of Milwaukeeworld.com


By Michael Horne


And The Milwaukee World Hound Dog Team

Today's news about the plans of Pewaukee-based Quad Graphics [company release here] to become a publicly traded company raises questions about the future of Milwaukee Magazine.

The award-winning monthly has been owned by the printer for over 25 years, during which time its publisher has been Betty Quadracci, wife (and now widow) of company founder Harry Quadracci.

The publication was a good fit for Quad Graphics, since it provided an excellent laboratory for the magazine printer to provide innovations that later became standard among all magazine publishers and printers. I was there to see many of them firsthand.

These included Macintosh-based direct-to-plate printing of the magazine at a time when all other magazines were still produced using traditional film processes.

There are countless other examples of synergies between the publication and advancements in printing technology that can be tied to the magazine's ownership by the world's largest privately owned printer.

However, just as the Allen-Bradley Company Orchestra's daily noontime concerts are no longer a staple of publicly traded Rockwell International, it is not entirely certain if the investment bankers would allow a publicly traded Quad Graphics to continue as the publisher of a metropolitan lifestyle monthly with a circulation much smaller than its traditional press runs.

Nor is it certain that new owners would maintain the hands-off policies of the Quadracci family regarding the magazine's editorial policies if they decided to continue producing the publication.

[It should be noted that the Quadracci family would retain a majority voting interest in the publicly traded firm. However, they will be subject to dealing with minority ownership interests for the first time.]

Corporate spokesperson Claire Ho told the Hound Dog:

"No plans have been made with regard to any of our operations or facilities."

Editor Bruce Murphy said such questions are better asked of the magazine's publisher.
 The firm's New York-based public relations agent had no immediate comment.

Harry and Betty Quadracci saved what had been a failing publication when they purchased Milwaukee Magazine for $50,000 two-and-a-half decades ago; Betty especially has put many years of work into managing it, dealing with details that most other centimillionaires would ordinarily delegate to others. She is also of an age when many folks choose retirement.

It may be time for a new ownership group to materialize if the city is to retain this vital, independent voice.

DISCLOSURE TIME!


Your correspondent has published hundreds of pieces in Milwaukee Magazine over the years, beginning in 1988 and most recently in the current issue, many of which were under the direction editor Bruce Murphy who previously was the first editor of Milwaukeeworld.