Legardere, the French publishing entity that owns Elle and a multitude of other titles, has officially agreed to sell its magazine unit to Hearst, which publishes rival glossies like Harper's Bazaar and Marie Claire.
According to Dealbook, the deal is valued at about $889 million and apparently does not include the French edition of Elle, which Legardere will retain. In addition, Legardere will apparently "guarantee the consistency" of the Elle branding in all the various editions, regardless of whether or not it actually publishes them. How they plan to execute that plan is unclear, but it's likely that once the deal does close, there'll be more than a few staffing changes as the magazine empires collide.
