Keeping up with Fast Company

Looks like John Byrne’s knight in shining armor riding in to save Fast Company magazine is Joe Mansueto, Morningstar’s founder and chairman. BusinessWeek is reporting the following …

“Joe Mansueto … has emerged as the front-runner for Gruner + Jahr USA Publishing's business magazines, Inc. and Fast Company, and is in late-stage negotiations to purchase the titles, executives close to the deal said this weekend.

No agreement has been struck yet, although one could made by the middle of this week. Mansueto's bid is described as narrowly nosing out a runner-up offer from The Economist Group, which besides the venerated newsweekly also publishes CFO magazine. It's unclear what the precise valuations of the bids are, although one executive familiar with the deal says previous press accounts placing the offers from five finalists above $40 million are roughly accurate. Bids from Mansueto and The Economist apparently beat out those of the other finalists, Advance Publications' American City Business Journals unit and venture-capital firms Abry Partners and Alta Communications."