Knapp to Sell L.A.-Based Bon Appetit, Architectural Digest

Knapp Communications owner Cleon T. Knapp said Monday that he plans to sell his two premier magazines, Architectural Digest and Bon Appetit.

Knapp, 55, whose family founded Architectural Digest in 1920 and acquired Bon Appetit in 1965, said he wanted to pursue “new challenges and opportunities.”

The Los Angeles-based magazines had combined revenue of about $90 million for the fiscal year ended last January. Architectural Digest has a circulation of 647,000 and Bon Appetit 1.26 million.

Both have done remarkably well during the recession, which has claimed several magazines. Ad pages were up during the last year.

A Knapp spokesman said the company has not held negotiations with anyone and declined to discuss potential buyers. The New York investment bank Lazard Freres & Co. is handling the sale. The two magazines employ about 200 people. Publishing industry sources said one potential buyer is Cahners Publishing, the Newton, Mass.-based company that owns the show-business trade paper Variety.

Cahners, a subsidiary of London-based Reed International, is the largest publisher of trade and specialty magazines in the country.

It is unclear how much Architectural Digest and Bon Appetit would fetch. Both magazines are profitable, and the company has no debt. Established magazines that serve specialty markets rarely change hands.

Potential buyers will undoubtedly be attracted by both publications’ upscale readership. The median household income of an Architectural Digest reader is $55,634 and a Bon Appetit reader $53,535.