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Apple Inc said it is acquiring Texture, a digital service that allows users to subscribe to more than 200 magazines for $9.99 per month.
Texture, available through the Apple, Google and Amazon app stores, bolsters Apple’s efforts in online services and media. The Cupertino, California-based company is targeting more than $50 billion in annual services revenue by 2021, and magazine subscriptions could contribute to that.
Texture’s catalog of magazines includes Entertainment Weekly, Billboard, Vanity Fair, Vogue and Bloomberg Businessweek. The app is currently operated by Next Issue Media LLC, which is owned by a group of publishers and other companies including Hearst Corporation, Meredith Corporation, News Corp., Rogers Communications Inc.
In 2014, private equity firm KKR invested $50 million in the company.
Apple made its first big push into integrating magazines and newspapers into its devices with an app called Newsstand in 2011, which it replaced with the more comprehensive Apple News service a few years ago.
Apple doesn’t typically formally announce acquisitions of smaller companies, but services chief Eddy Cue, who oversees its media efforts, appeared at the South by Southwest conference in Austin, Texas, this week.
“We’re thrilled to have Texture, along with our impressive catalog of magazines from many of the world’s leading publishers, join Apple,” Cue said in a statement. “We’re committed to delivering quality journalism from trusted sources and enabling magazines to continue to produce beautifully designed, engaging stories.”
The company did not disclose the price for Texture, but the move is Apple’s second reported acquisition this year. In January, it acquired BuddyBuild, an app development services company based in Canada.
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