Hachette

New York Times Co., which already publishes Family Circle magazine, said Monday that it has agreed in principle to acquire McCall's magazine. Terms were not disclosed, but the sale agreement followed recent published reports that the U.S. subsidiary of France's Hachette SA had broken off an informal agreement to buy McCall's. The agreement is subject to approval by the boards of the companies, regulatory approval and signing of a definitive agreement. Family Circle and McCall's are part of a group known in the publishing industry as the "Seven Sisters" women's service magazines.

The European Union is poised to accept a settlement in the case it brought against Apple and publishers over e-book price fixing, Reuters reports. Apple and four publishers -- Hachette, HarperCollins,  Macmillan and Simon & Schuster -- were part of a settlement offer made in September. "European Union regulators are to accept an offer by Apple and four publishers to end an antitrust probe into their e-book prices, two sources said," Reuters writes , "handing Amazon victory in a bid to sell online books cheaper than its rivals, sources said.

Facing a debt of $5 million, New England Monthly magazine will cease publication this month, its editors announced today. Richard Todd, editor of the 6-year-old publication, told the magazine's 30 employees Thursday that the September issue will be the last. "It's been a tough year for everyone in the magazine business," Todd said. "For us, it proved fatal."

In a pair of developments reflecting difficult times in the magazine business, Woman magazine is being closed and Woman's Day has been taken off the auction block for lack of an acceptable bid. Conde Nast Publications Inc. said it will close Woman magazine after its September issue. Woman is the first Conde Nast magazine to cease publication since the Newhouse family took control of the company in 1959. Woman has been published for 10 years but was acquired by Conde Nast about 18 months ago.

In a posthumous memoir, Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) writes of fear and remorse surrounding the fateful events on Chappaquiddick Island in 1969, when his car accident left a woman dead. "True Compass" is to be published Sept. 14 by Twelve, a division of the Hachette book group. The book was obtained early by the New York Times. In it, Kennedy says his actions in July 1969 were "inexcusable." He says he was afraid, "made terrible decisions" and had to live with the guilt for more than 40 years.

Time Warner Inc. is selling its book publishing division to the French conglomerate Lagardere for $537.5 million, the companies said Monday. Time Warner Book Group is the fifth-largest U.S. book publisher, with a stable of writers that includes Nelson DeMille and James Patterson. Its major imprints include Warner Books and Little, Brown. The deal would make Lagardere's book-publishing unit the third-largest worldwide.