Torstar's Star Media Group buys startup digital beauty magazine The Kit

The Kit, a startup digital beauty and wellness magazine created by former St. Joseph Media staff has been purchased by Star Media Group (Toronto Star).

“We searched diligently for the best women’s lifestyle play for our audiences and advertisers,” Edward Greenspon, vice president of business development for Star Media Group and the Toronto Star, said in a release. “We liked what we saw in The Kit and are keen to get going right away in supporting it as a leading beauty authority on all platforms and extending it into the fashion space.”

The Kit, which was launched last fall, produces a content-rich digital magazine, including video, slide shows, and email newsletters.Giorgina Bigioni, president and publisher of The Kit (and former publisher of Fashion magazine) said the acquisition "will allow her team to dramatically accelerate plans and reach substantial new audiences.” There are also plans to add a print edition.

The deal is a letter of intent and still subject to negotiation and closing conditions. Star Media Group, whose holdings include the Toronto Star, Toronto.com, The Grid and joint ownership of Metro free daily newspapers, is a division of Toronto Star Newspapers Ltd., which is a subsidiary of Torstar Corp. It has recently redesigned and relaunched both Toronto.com and The Grid (formerly Eye Weekly).

The Kit has published its 3rd issue (Spring) and relaunched an expanded and improved companion website.  The publication has 30,000 subscribers (it's free to sign up), running well ahead of its launch estimates according to Bigioni. 

The magazine has about 160,000 visits over the first two issues (somewhat less than the 200,000 they'd aimed for), an impressive 2.5 million total page views, 19,000 users of its free app, 1,500 Twitter followers and l 1,900 Facebook fans, according to its media kit.