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Future plc is an international multimedia company established in the United Kingdom in 1985. The company has over 220 brands that span magazines, newsletters, websites, and events in fields such as video games, technology, films, music, photography, home, and knowledge.
Zillah Byng-Thorne Zillah Byng-Thorne (, born 1974/1975) is a British businesswoman, and the CEO of Future plc, a FTSE 250 Index British media company, since April 2014. She was described by The Guardian in September 2022 as "one of the UK’s most successful medi ...
has been CEO since 2014. The company is listed on the
London Stock Exchange London Stock Exchange (LSE) is a stock exchange in the City of London, England, United Kingdom. , the total market value of all companies trading on LSE was £3.9 trillion. Its current premises are situated in Paternoster Square close to St Pa ...
and is a constituent of the
FTSE 250 Index The FTSE 250 Index ( "Footsie") is a capitalisation-weighted index consisting of the 101st to the 350th largest companies listed on the London Stock Exchange. Promotions and demotions to and from the index occur quarterly in March, June, Septemb ...
.


History


1985–2012

The company was founded as Future Publishing in
Somerton, Somerset Somerton ( ) is a town and civil parish in the English county of Somerset. It gave its name to the county and was briefly, around the start of the 14th century, the county town, and around 900 was possibly the capital of Wessex. It has held a w ...
, England, in 1985 by Chris Anderson with the sole magazine ''
Amstrad Action ''Amstrad Action'' was a monthly magazine, published in the United Kingdom, which catered to owners of home computers from the Amstrad CPC range and later the GX4000 console. It was the first magazine published by Chris Anderson's Future Publi ...
''. An early innovation was the inclusion of free software on magazine covers; they were the first company to do so. It acquired GP Publications so establishing
Future US Future US, Inc. (formerly known as Imagine Media and The Future Network USA) is an American media corporation specializing in targeted magazines and websites in the video games, music, and technology markets. Headquartered in New York City, ...
in 1994. From 1995 to 1997, the company published ''Arcane'', a magazine which largely focused on
tabletop game Tabletop games or tabletops are games that are normally played on a table or other flat surface, such as board games, card games, dice games, miniature wargames, or tile-based games. Classification according to equipment used Tabletop game ...
s. Anderson sold Future to
Pearson plc Pearson plc is a British multinational publishing and education company headquartered in London, England. It was founded as a construction business in the 1840s but switched to publishing in the 1920s. Spender, J. A., ''Weetman Pearson: F ...
for £52.7m in 1994, but bought it back in 1998, with Future chief executive Greg Ingham and Apax Venture Partners, for £142m. The company was the subject of an
initial public offering An initial public offering (IPO) or stock launch is a public offering in which shares of a company are sold to institutional investors and usually also to retail (individual) investors. An IPO is typically underwritten by one or more investme ...
in 1999. Anderson left Future in 2001.


2012–2015

Future published the official magazines for the consoles of all three major games console manufacturers (
Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational corporation, multinational technology company, technology corporation producing Software, computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered at th ...
, Nintendo, and
Sony , commonly stylized as SONY, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. As a major technology company, it operates as one of the world's largest manufacturers of consumer and professional ...
); however '' PlayStation: The Official Magazine'' ceased publishing in November 2012, and ''
Official Nintendo Magazine ''Official Nintendo Magazine'', or ''ONM'', was a British video game magazine that ran from 2006 to 2014 that covered the Nintendo DS, Nintendo 3DS, Wii, and Wii U video game consoles released by Nintendo. Originally published by EMAP as ...
'' ceased publishing in October 2014. The company had a period of abandoning print media properties in favour of digital media, closing many titles and selling off others. In January 2012, Future sold its U.S. consumer music magazines, including ''
Guitar World ''Guitar World'' is a monthly music magazine for guitarists – and fans of guitar-based music and trends – that has been published since July 1980. ''Guitar World'', the best-selling guitar magazine in the United States, contains original arti ...
'' and '' Revolver'', to
NewBay Media NewBay Media, LLC was a magazine and website publisher founded in 2006 and headquartered in New York City. NewBay Media served five marketplaces — Music, Pro Audio/AV, Video & Broadcast, Consumer Electronics, and Education. In April 2018, Fu ...
for $3 million. In April 2013, it completed the sale of major components of its UK media-music brands for £10.2 million to Team Rock Ltd. In September 2013 – but bought these back for £800,000 in 2017 after Team Rock went into administration. In August 2013, Future acquired two Australian computing titles, ''APC'' and ''
TechLife ''TechLife'' (formerly ''PC User'') is an Australian general computer magazine, published monthly by Future Australia. The magazine's regular content consists of computer hardware and software reviews and previews, technology news and opinion a ...
'' from
Bauer Media Group Heinrich Bauer Publishing (german: Heinrich Bauer Verlag KG), trading as Bauer Media Group, is a German multimedia conglomerate headquartered in Hamburg. It operates worldwide and owns more than 600 magazines, over 400 digital products and 50 ...
. Future announced it would cut 55 jobs from its UK operation as part of a restructuring to adapt "more effectively to the company's rapid transition to a primarily digital business model." The company announced in March 2014 that it would close all of its U.S.-based print publications and shift U.S. print support functions such as consumer marketing, production and editorial leadership for Future's international print brands to the UK.Future US streamlined to focus on digital
, RNS Number : 3903D, Future PLC, 28 March 2014
Later in 2014, Future sold its sport and craft titles to
Immediate Media Immediate Media Company Limited (styled as Immediate Media Co) is a British multinational publishing house that currently publishes a significant range of titles, including ''Radio Times, BBC Top Gear, BBC Good Food'' and a host of others. In ...
, and its auto titles to Kelsey Media. In March 2014, it was announced that the company's CFO
Zillah Byng-Thorne Zillah Byng-Thorne (, born 1974/1975) is a British businesswoman, and the CEO of Future plc, a FTSE 250 Index British media company, since April 2014. She was described by The Guardian in September 2022 as "one of the UK’s most successful medi ...
would become the company's fourth CEO in nine years on 1 April 2014, after Mark Wood, CEO since 2011, stepped down.


2016–present

In 2016, Future started to expand its print and web portfolio through a series of acquisitions. It bought Blaze Publishing to diversify into the shooting market and acquired Noble House Media to increase its interest in telecoms media. Future then completed the purchase of rival specialist magazine publisher
Imagine Imagine may refer to: * Imagination Music Albums * ''Imagine'' (Armin van Buuren album), 2008 * ''Imagine'' (Eva Cassidy album), 2002 * ''Imagine'' (Janice Vidal album), 2012 * ''Imagine'' (John Lennon album), 1971 ** ''Imagine: John Lennon' ...
on 21 October 2016 after receiving approval from the
Competition and Markets Authority The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is the competition regulator in United Kingdom. It is a non-ministerial government department in the United Kingdom, responsible for strengthening business competition and preventing and reducing anti-com ...
. In 2018, Future made further major acquisitions. It bought the ''What Hi-Fi?'', ''
FourFourTwo ''FourFourTwo'' is a football magazine published by Future. Issued monthly, it published its 300th edition in May 2019. It takes its name from the football formation of the same name, 4-4-2. In 2008, it was announced that ''FourFourTwo'' had e ...
,'' ''Practical Caravan'' and ''Practical Motorhome'' brands from Haymarket. Future acquired NewBay Media, publisher of numerous broadcast, professional video, and systems integration trade titles, as well as several consumer music magazines. This acquisition returned most of the U.S. consumer music magazines to Future, with the exception of ''Revolver'' which had been sold to Project Group M LLC in 2017. It completed the acquisition of U.S. B2C publisher
Purch Purch Group, Inc. was a New York City-based digital media company. Originally established in 2003 as TechMedia Network, Inc., it was positioned as a "portfolio of brands and products focused on purchasing decisions"—consisting primarily of web ...
for $132m by September 2018. Future also purchased
nextmedia nextmedia Pty Limited (styled as nextmedia) is an Australian media company which publishes special interest magazines in the sport, humor, and hobby (among others). The company is headquartered in Sydney and owned by The Forum Media Group, ...
's computing and tech assets in Australia (including '' Atomic'', ''
Hyper Hyper may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Hyper'' (2016 film), 2016 Indian Telugu film * ''Hyper'' (2018 film), 2018 Indian Kannada film * ''Hyper'' (magazine), an Australian video game magazine *Hyper (TV channel), a Filipino sports channe ...
'', ''
PC PowerPlay ''PC PowerPlay'' (''PCPP'') is Australia's only dedicated PC games magazine. ''PC PowerPlay'' focuses on news and reviews for upcoming and newly released games on the Microsoft Windows platform. The magazine also reviews computer hardware for ...
'', and ''PC Tech & Authority'') in the same month, and began incorporating ''PC PowerPlay'' articles into the online versions of ''PC Gamer''. In January 2019, Future sold some B2B brands to Datateam Media Group. In February 2019, Future acquired Mobile Nations including Android Central, iMore, Windows Central and Thrifter for $115 million. Future also acquired ''
ProCycling ''Procycling'', or ''ProCycling'', was a bicycling sport magazine owned by Future. First published in April 1999, there were 13 issues a year distributed in all countries where there are English-speaking readers. Andrew Sutcliffe, the former e ...
'' and
CyclingNews.com Cyclingnews.com is a website providing cycling news and race result owned by Future. History In 1995 Australian Bill Mitchell, a keen cyclist and professor of economics at the University of Newcastle, created the website titled "Bill’s Cyclin ...
from
Immediate Media Immediate Media Company Limited (styled as Immediate Media Co) is a British multinational publishing house that currently publishes a significant range of titles, including ''Radio Times, BBC Top Gear, BBC Good Food'' and a host of others. In ...
. In July 2019, Future acquired SmartBrief (a digital media publisher of targeted business news and information) for an initial sum of $45 million. In April 2020, Future acquired
TI Media TI Media (formerly International Publishing Company, IPC Magazines Ltd, IPC Media and Time Inc. UK) was a consumer magazine and digital publisher in the United Kingdom, with a portfolio selling over 350 million copies each year. Most of its tit ...
, with 41 brands including ''Decanter'', '' Country Life'', ''
Wallpaper Wallpaper is a material used in interior decoration to decorate the interior walls of domestic and public buildings. It is usually sold in rolls and is applied onto a wall using wallpaper paste Adhesive flakes that are mixed with water to pro ...
'' and ''
Woman & Home ''Woman & Home'' is a monthly lifestyle magazine published by Future PLC. The London-based women's lifestyle brand produces fashion and beauty features for real women in their 40s and upwards, along with inspirational articles on the home and ga ...
'', for £140 million. Future subsequently divested ''
Amateur Photographer ''Amateur Photographer'' is a British photography magazine, published weekly by Kelsey Media. The magazine provides articles on equipment reviews, photographic technique, and profiles of professional photographers. About the magazine ''Am ...
'' and '' World Soccer'' to
Kelsey Media Kelsey Media is a magazine publisher and trade fair company based in Yalding, England. Founded in 1989, it has bought and sold many publications over the years, including former Bauer Media Group mag