Reader’s Digest UK was sold for just £1 by Better Capital a UK hedge fund to a venture capitalist that created Bob the Builder, on Monday.
Better Capital, run by Jon Moulton, bought the magazine out of bankruptcy for £14m in 2010. Moulton, a distressed asset manager, pumped an additional £23m into the company.
In 2013 Reader’s Digest UK filed for a second bankruptcy, which saw massive layoffs, but allowed the publication to continue.
The new owner is UK-based Mike Luckwell , who ran HIT Entertainments, which made Bob the Builder children’s TV show.
It is widely reported in the UK press that Luckwell claimed that Luckwell will expand Reader’s Digest business into a financial services business.