• by Erik Sass  @eriksass1, January 7, 2011

There is more progress in the possible sale of Hachette Filipacchi and other consumer magazines by Lagardère Active to Hearst Corp., although it's hard to know how close the parties are to an actual deal.

Last week, Lagardère Active issued a statement to Reuters saying no such deal was imminent, adding that "no timetable nor exclusivity deals are on the agenda." On January 1, Lagardère said negotiations with Hearst had entered an exclusive phase. And this week Bloomberg reports that Lagardère and Hearst Corp. have agreed "in principle" on the price for the former's international magazine business.

According to Bloomberg, there are still outstanding issues about editorial control of foreign editions (including the American edition) of Elle magazine. Lagardère wishes to retain a significant role in determining the editorial direction of Elle , which would allow it to maintain brand coherency with the flagship French edition.

Like other big consumer magazine publishers, Hachette Filipacchi, which publishes the U.S. edition of Elle, as well as a variety of enthusiast and lifestyle titles, has enjoyed an uneven recovery as the industry enters a tentative rebound.

According to the Publishers Information Bureau, in the first nine months of 2010 ad pages were up 8.9% at Elle, 24.9% at Elle Decor , 4% at Car and Driver, 4.5% at Road & Track and 0.7% at Woman's Day.

Owner Lagardère Active's parent company, Lagardère SCA, is continuing a wide-ranging strategic repositioning that began several years ago under the leadership of CEO Arnaud Lagardère. It includes the planned sale of its stake in European cable TV network Canal Plus and the possible sale of its stake in the European consortium that owns Airbus -- potentially multibillion-dollar transactions.

Lagardère Active, which publishes magazines around the world, contributed about 22% of the company's total revenues of $10 billion in 2009.