Business

Former Time exec Sareyan tapped to run National Journal

David Bradley, the multi-millionaire magazine owner who turned his first-ever profit at The Atlantic last year, is now focusing on jump-starting his National Journal.

He’s just hired Andy Sareyan, a former top executive of Time Inc. and more recently Meredith Corp., to be the president of the National Journal and an executive vice president in the parent Atlantic Media Group.

Bradley is in the midst of a high stakes gamble at the Journal, changing subscribers — who are already paying $2,000 to $4,000 for annual subscriptions — into “members.” They will be charged between $4,000 and $25,000 a year and be able to receive all of the title’s offerings — the weekly, the National Journal Daily and all its digital offerings — for one price.

Although few magazine owners have tried it, Bradley is convinced he can sell memberships to the bulk of the 2,000 institutions that now subscribe. The 58-year-old businessman said he has already converted the first 100 to that formula.

Bradley is convinced it could eventually lead to a 50 percent to 80 percent jump in revenue over the next few years.

“I’ve done membership work for 30 years,” he said, referring to his past work with the Advisory Board, and the Corporate Executive Board, two DC consultancies he founded based on amassing high intelligence for corporations.

Sareyan is on board. “I absolutely believe it can work,” he said.

At first the recruitment of Sareyan seemed a bit of a leap. Sareyan was the president of consumer brands at Meredith, which includes women’s titles such as Better Homes & Gardens, More, and Fitness — and at Time Inc. had been the launch publisher of the successful Real Simple.

Bradley is known for long and arduous searches for executives. Three years ago, he lured Justin Smith from The Week to The Atlantic and last year the magazine turned the first profit after more than a decade of Bradley ownership.

Smith is the CEO of the entire company.