Media giant Hearst Magazines has acquired MotorTrend Group, previously a subsidiary of TNT Sports, which is a division of Warner Bros. Discovery. In addition to MotorTrend, the brands within MotorTrend Group included in the acquisition include Hot Rod, Roadkill, and Automobile.
These brands join Car and Driver, Road & Track, Autoweek, and Bring a Trailer under the Hearst Autos umbrella. Another Hearst property that’s automotive-adjacent is Popular Mechanics. The MotoreTrend Group acquisition makes Hearst an even more dominant presence in print and digital automotive media.
“The acquisition of MotorTrend represents a strategic investment in our business – one that enables us to expand our digital offerings, reach an even broader and more diverse community of automobile enthusiasts, and bring the most innovative opportunities to the market,” Hearst Magazines president Debi Chirichella said. “We look forward to welcoming MotorTrend Group to our Hearst family as we continue to drive long-term growth across the business.”
MotorTrend Group CEO and president Alex Wellen Wellen said of the acquisition: “Over the past 75 years, we have grown MotorTrend into one of the most influential automotive multi-media companies in the world, reaching hundreds of millions of car enthusiasts across all platforms. Joining Hearst, a business I’ve long admired, will ensure that our beloved collection of brands continues to serve and entertain automotive fans for years to come.”
MotorTrend will continue operating out of its existing offices in El Segundo, California and Detroit, Michigan.
This is the latest in a long series of ownership changes for the historic car magazine in the 21st century. Petersen Publishing Company, the magazine’s original publisher, was sold to UK-based EMAP in 2001, and EMAP sold MotorTrend to American publisher Primedia in 2002. Primedia sold off its enthusiast media segment to Source Interlink Companies in 2007, which rebranded as TEN: The Enthusiast Network in 2014. Warner Bros. Discovery (Discovery Communications at the time) acquired a majority stake in TEN in 2017 when it rebranded as MotorTrend Group, and Discovery completed the full acquisition in 2019. Now, MotorTrend Group joins the Hearst Autos division alongside a couple of its oldest competitors.
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