William Cash - Spear's gets a bit bigged up?

The wealth-worshipping William Cash recently told Independent readers how he’d sold his Spear’s Wealth Management Survey magazine (aimed at High-Net-Worth individuals – ie the filthy rich) for a “seven figure plus” sum (just over £1m in fact) to Luxury Publishing Ltd. Conscious perhaps of the modesty of the price he added that the “deal allowed me to keep 30 per cent of the title.”

However, you wouldn't guess from his piece that Luxury Publishing Ltd has actually bought Cash's whole company Spear Media – not just the super-rich mag - for a “seven figure plus” sum. Spear’s Wealth Management Survey is just one asset among a number of magazines which include contract titles Annabel’s Wine & Cellar and Aspinall’s. The Observer reports that Cash retains a “30% stake in the company” - I assume this is a mistake because Cash says his stake's in the Spear's title.

I am sure that Cash’s Independent piece unintentionally left one with the impression that he'd flogged Spear’s Wealth Management Survey alone for over a million quid. Its actual sale price must be considerably lower than that if it was part of a job lot. Half a million? A quarter? But, of course, it does not harm Cash's interests for people to think the title alone worth a “seven figure plus” sum - though still chicken feed in reality. And it’s hard to tell which interested Luxury Publishing more – Spear’s itself or its useful contract magazine deals.

What we do know is that Cash's sell-off makes Luxury Publishing the UK’s largest magazine publisher for High-Net-Worth sector titles.