Posts by mwright

Briefing Media announced on Friday that The Media Briefing is to close and that its two leading events are to be owned and hosted by Haymarket in future

Yesterday One of the world’s biggest health and wellness media companies has vaulted spryly on to the auction block. On Wednesday, Rodale, Inc., publisher of Men’s Health, Women’s Health, Prevention and Runner’s World, among other titles, announced that it is considering “strategic alternatives” for the company, including a potential sale

Vice Media has completed a $450m investment from TPG, the private equity group, in a deal the youth-focused company said valued it at $5.7bn — more than double its valuation of three years ago.

Press Release: MUMBAI, India, May 24, 2017 /PRNewswire/ — Havas Group is expanding its capabilities and footprint in the important and burgeoning Indian market by adding Sorento to its roster of agencies. Sorento will integrate the Havas Health & You business unit and be rebranded Havas Life Sorento. This strategic acquisition will allow Havas to further develop its regional presence and add to its depth and breadth in India to deliver for global clients.

Press Release: Ascential plc (the “Group” / LSE: ASCL.L), the global business-to-business information company, today announces that it has agreed the sale of the remaining 11 UK-based Heritage Brands to Metropolis International Limited for a consideration of £23.5m, payable in cash and subject to normal working capital adjustments. The sale has completed and the proceeds will be used to reduce Ascential’s net debt. On 5 January 2017 the Group announced that it had separated 13 Heritage Brands into a new operating entity and that these brands would develop an independent business strategy while new owners were sought.

Informa Exhibitions forms a joint venture company with the organizer of the Inter Health Expo in Guangzhou on 16 May 2017. Inter Health is an international annual B2B trade show launched 14 years ago on nutrition and health food products, held at the Guangzhou Import and Export Fair Complex. Being the first of its kind in introducing ‘big health’ concept onto a trade show platform in China, Inter Health Expo is the largest health food exhibition in China

Press Release: UDG Healthcare has announced the acquisition of Sellxpert, a German and Swiss contract sales outsourcing business, based in Speyer, Germany and Basel, Switzerland, respectively

Amazon is to add more than 40 TV channels to its UK streaming service, including ITV and live sport for the first time, upping the stakes against rival Netflix and pay-TV operators such as Sky.

Fairfax Media appears extremely close to being declared ‘on the market’ as a new bidder, Hellman & Friedman, entered the auction room on Wednesday night with an indicative offer that trumped the TPG offer already on the table. This could easily mark the start of a bidding war between two US private equity groups, likely to move the 176-year-old media group into foreign hands.

When Time Inc. declared it was putting the brakes on a potential sale, the announcement served — among other things — as a reminder that the public equity markets have not been kind to magazine media. Time Inc. spun out from Time Warner in 2014, emerging as a standalone company with some of the most storied magazine brands in history, but also $1.3 billion in debt and a lengthening record of declining revenue. Last year was no exception, with revenue falling to just under $3.1 billion. In 2010, by contrast, the company’s revenue was $3.7 billion. Time Inc.’s stock peaked at $25.62 just a month or so after the spinoff, and after a rally in early 2015, it’s never gotten close to that point again. It was trading at under $15 early this week.

Press Release: Stockholm, Sweden: 17 May 2017: Readly, the digital magazine newsstand, today announced it has raised €13m in additional funding to drive the next stage of its development. The series B funding has been provided by funds managed by Zouk Capital and Hermes GPE as well as from existing shareholders. Channel 4’s Commercial Growth Fund and Aggregate Media Fund have also participated in the round. The company will use the funds to further its international expansion and support growth in its existing markets.

MA Exhibitions Limited, the exhibition arm of the Mark Allen Group, has completed its acquisition of the UK’s largest special educational needs show, TES SEN Show, from TES Global Limited. Under the terms of the deal, TES Global has agreed to licence its name to MA Exhibitions for an undisclosed period.

Epiris’ portfolio company AXIO Group scored a 5-times return and a 79 per cent IRR through the £455m sale of TechInsights to Oakley Capital. TechInsights is an intellectual property and technology service provider, offering consulting, patent brokerage and technical reverse engineering.

In Austria, marcoms giant Dentsu Aegis Network has acquired full-service media agency media.at, which provides consulting, research and data analysis relating to comms strategy, ad planning and buying, and ad verification. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

EQT VI Limited (“EQT VI”) has entered into an agreement to sell Bureau van Dijk (or the “Company”) to Moody’s Corporation (“Moody’s”) for an enterprise value of EUR 3.0 billion

As part of an announcement about earnings, Time inc CEO, Rich Battista suggested it will cut costs by selling “non-core assets,” but did not give further details

Not showing advertisers their own ads has been the elephant in the programmatic room from day one. The minute clients like Marc Pritchard at P&G — and others like him working for premium brands — start requesting “checking copies” of their online ads, programmatic advertising will have a huge problem

Event revenues surpass print revenues as Northstar takes on 10 hospitality events.

Gulf Publishing Company has made its first major move since spinning off from its former London-based parent via management buyout last August from Euromoney

The Economist is following the trend of Trump-era subscription success, with a growth of 19 percent in North American digital subscriptions since the election. This puts the London-based magazine in the ranks of Vanity Fair, The New York Times, and The Atlantic, which have all seen subscriptions surge since November