Traditional media have been having a hard time transitioning to digital for the past two years, proliferation of social media and coupled with Facebook and Google was threatening the existence of print. The struggles has been painful and tough, even so many continued to pivot and innovate but not all could muster on any longer as Covid 19 has proven. Malaysia’s latest casualty being Blu Inc, a popular magazine media house publishing titles like Cosmopolitan, Female, Cleo and Nuyuo.

In a letter spotted by team Reach, Blu Inc CEO Datuk Azliza Tajuddin sent out to all employees informing of the difficult decision the company had to make during this time. All staffs aside from a few in finance and HR will be retained to under stake the due process. The company has been building its digital portfolio for some time but has yet to gain traction and the MCO is not giving clear visibility on the direction, shared Azliza.

Blu Inc has been in operation for than 4 decades with over 20 titles in its portfolio, the company started out in 1974 as the Jack Chia-MPH Group in Singapore and eventually went through ownership changes to evolve into Blu Inc which came into the stable of SPH Magazines (a part of Singapore Press Holdings Limited).

In Malaysia, Blu Inc Media Sdn Bhd was set up as a joint venture with SPH Magazines. Strategic business partnerships with Conde Nast, American Media Inc, Weider and Hearst and subsequent acquisitions of Magazine World and ACP titles, cemented its position as a leader in lifestyle magazines. At one time it acquired PC.com’s long time rival Hardware Magazine which was subsequently shut down.