Martha Stewart Living Omnimd

Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia

Company Overview

For a time, Martha Stewart and her company, Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia (trading on the New York Stock Exchange as MSO) was best known for the brief imprisonment of its founder, namesake, and very public face due to insider trading convictions (Yahoo 2011; Brown & Rhodes 2011). Both Stewart and her company have more than rebounded form this debacle, however, and the long and almost entirely successful career of this cooking, crafting, and business wizard has hardly been affected by this isolated ordeal (Brown & Rhodes 2011). After building a moderate name for herself in the 1970s as a woman of taste who knew how to put on a party, from providing food to making the decorations, Stewart struck a publishing deal and in 1982 released Entertaining, which built her into a household name over the next decade (Brown & Rhodes 2011).

The Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia company was not incorporated until 1997, when Stewart bought the company from its parent, Time Warner, and since then its stock and its profits have generally been on the rise (Yahoo 2011). At this point, Stewart had already been signed to a consulting contract with Kmart, the magazine Martha Stewart Living had been in publication for seven years, here television show had been airing for four, and her beginnings as a caterer were left far behind (Brown & Rhodes 2011). Since incorporating, Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia had a hugely successful IPO in 1999 and has seen returns ranging from decent to tremendous in all three primary areas of its operation (MSLO 2011).

These three areas are Publishing, Broadcasting, and Merchandising, and though the three are inextricably linked in many ways and especially in their monetization chains, they are seen and operated as independent departments within the larger company (MSLO 2011). The signature offerings of the publishing arm of the company are magazine titles including the flagship Martha Stewart Living as well as other titles such as Martha Stewart Weddings, Whole Living and Everyday Food, with companion and additional websites and blogs also produced by this department (MSLO 2011). There are also many different books that this company publishes, most of them very smartly branded with the name and personality of Martha Stewart herself (e.g. The Martha Stewart Living Cookbook, Martha Stewart's Encyclopedia of Crafts, etc.) (MSLO 2011). Direct sales and advertising revenue are both strong sources of value and profitability in this sector of the company (Yahoo 2011).

The broadcasting arm of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia is almost exclusively concerned with the production and distribution of television programming, though the company does own and operate a satellite radio channel as well (MSLO 2011). Again, it is Martha Stewart's own self-named program, The Martha Stewart Show, that is the centerpiece of this department, though other programs with other hosts (and a new baking show with Stewart as the host) have also been added to the roster in recent years (MSLO 2011). Revenue from these television production efforts is derived from initial program sales, current and future syndication potentials, and in-programming product placement, as well (MSLO 2011).

Both the publishing and broadcasting efforts that the company engages in are heavily involved with the third area of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia's operations, its merchandising endeavors. Through various different brands and a range of distribution deals -- including exclusive sale contracts with certain retail establishments such as Home Depot and Macy's -- the company produces and/or distributes products in a wide range of price points, covering pretty much every type of home good imaginable in addition to specific crafting items, home improvement tools and materials, pet supplies, cleaning supplies, and more (MSLO 2011). Many of these products are demonstrated ro otherwise featured in the televisions shows and publications produced by the company, providing a high degree of vertical integration in the marketing, production, and direct sales revenues of the brand (Yahoo 2011; Brown & Rhodes 2011). This integration also makes the value chain almost a value cycle, as there are revenues and profits generated from many diverse operations that occur at a variety of points throughout each product's life cycle (Yahoo 2011).

Industry Analysis

Due to the variety of intellectual and physical offerings produced by Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, it is difficult to pinpoint a specific industry in which the company operates. Though often primarily classified as a publishing company, the company obviously engages in far more than simply producing media and derives profits from many other activities (Yahoo 2011). Because of this, it is possible that the company is undervalued in certain analyses.