Google Acquiring Frommer’s Travel Brand, More Google+ Improvements Likely To Follow

Google is in the process of acquiring the Frommer’s travel brand from the publishing company John Wiley & Sons, Inc., in what appears to be a further effort to beef up its Google+ business information listings service. The deal is nearly closed, according to a report from The Wall Street Journal, which also speculates that the Frommer’s brand could be merged into Google’s Zagat brand following the completion of the acquisition.
Frommer’s has been up for sale since March, when its parent company announced that it intended to explore opportunities to sell a number of its print and digital publishing*assets in its Professional/Trade businesses, saying that they “no longer align with the company’s long-term business strategy.” These included not only Frommer’s, but also*culinary, general interest, nautical, pets, crafts, Webster’s New World, and CliffsNotes.
The travel brand Frommer’s got its start back in 1957 with the publication of founder Arthur Frommer’s “Europe on $5 a Day,” and later expanded to include a collection of over 300 guidebooks as well as the Frommers.com website. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. picked up the property in 2001. Although not confirmed at this point, it’s probable that Google is only interested in the travel content Frommer’s has amassed, and the book publishing will cease.
Wiley is now agreeing to sell all of its travel assets, including the Frommer’s brand, to Google, and proceeds of that sale will be redeployed to support growth in other areas of its business. Terms of the deal have not been disclosed.
Google previously purchased restaurant ratings service Zagat*in September 2011, which published guidebooks and apps with detailed ratings and reviews. Zagat’s content*has since been used to improve Google+ – specifically Google+ Local which replaced the company’s previous business listings service Google Places. Like Zagat, Frommer’s and the other travel content seems a natural fit for Google+ integration as well.
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