Posts by mwright

The erosion in print ad sales kicked off at the beginning of 2016 and did not let up. In the fourth quarter alone, print sales dropped 20 per cent at the New York Times and at McClatchy, operator of 29 US daily papers. Gannett, owner of USA Today, reported a 15 per cent fall in the US and a 14 per cent decline at Newsquest, its UK chain. News Corp said the fall in print dragged total ad revenue down 29 per cent at News UK (publisher of The Sun and The Times), 20 per cent at Wall Street Journal publisher Dow Jones and 12 per cent at its Australian papers. The Financial Times and Tronc, the owner of the Los Angeles Times and Chicago Tribune, have also been hit.

Condé Nast has acquired social data and marketing platform CitizenNet to expand the media company’s audience targeting and data capabilities to its social platforms.

CitizenNet will be incorporated into Condé Nast’s data product “Condé Nast Spire,” which it launched last summer

Press Release: ASCENTIAL MEDIALINKLONDON–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Ascential plc, the global business-to-business media company listed on the London Stock Exchange, today announced that it has agreed to acquire 100% of MediaLink, a U.S.-based advisory and business services firm

Axel Springer is to expand its mobile news service Upday from four to 16 countries in Europe this year, as the German media group accelerates its shift into digital publishing. Upday, a news aggregator that uses human editors as well as an algorithm to select news stories, was developed as part of an exclusive partnership with Samsung and launched in Germany, Poland, the UK and France last February.

egional publisher Iliffe Media has bought Velvet and IQ magazines from marketing agency Cubiqdesign for an undisclosed fee. The titles have been run by family team John and Gemma Treby for more than 10 years.

Roy Greenslade’s final blog: When I started this blog in 2006, Twitter was three months old and Facebook was on the verge of providing public access. Google was up and running, turning a profit, and just beginning to destroy the business model of newspapers

Press Release: Cello Group plc (AIM: CLL; “Cello”, the “Group” or the “Company), the healthcare focused strategic marketing group, is pleased to announce that it has raised £15.0 million (before expenses) by way of a placing of 15,463,919 new ordinary shares of 10 pence each (the “Placing Shares”) at a price of £0.97 per ordinary share (the “Placing”). The Placing, which was oversubscribed, has received strong support from both new and existing institutional shareholder. The Placing proceeds will in part be used to finance the acquisition of the assets of Defined Healthcare Research, Inc. and Cancer Progress, LLC (“Defined Health”), a business delivering scientific strategic advisory services to a wide range of US, European and global biotech and healthcare clients (the “Acquisition”). The proposed initial consideration for the Acquisition is US$5.75 million

Press release: CloserStill, recently ranked No 10 in the Sunday Times International FastTrack 200 of the UK’s fastest growing exporters, will incorporate iLearning Forum into its launch of Learning Technologies France exhibition and conference to be held on January 23rd and 24th 2018 at Espace Champerret in Paris.  

Publishing group to raise its exposure with bigger stake in Penguin Random House

Acquisition vehicle in talks to buy Groupe AB as content war hots up

Son of Vincent Bolloré gets more power at ad agency as tie-up with Vivendi seems near

Sky is to make its full TV service of hundreds of channels available without the need for a satellite dish for the first time, as it looks to stem customer defections to rivals such as BT

Reuters has reported that Emerald Expositions, the largest operator of business-to-business trade shows in the United States, is exploring a sale that could value the company at close to $2bn, including debt

Preliminary discussions could create the world’s largest communications company

Sky has taken a substantial stake in the reborn Chrysalis television production company that will fund the creation of a slate of new dramas. Chrysalis Vision was set up by the former management team behind Chrysalis Television, one of the original “super indies” in the production sector that developed long-running shows including Midsomer Murders and Doc Martin. The original business was sold in 2003 as the former Chrysalis media empire was dismantled and became All3Media, which was acquired by Liberty Global and Discovery in 2014 for £500m

Revenue pressures, such as shrinking advertising sales, seem to be constantly intensifying for the print media sector.

International Data Group, Inc. (IDG) has found a buyer, one year after the digital media and events company started looking for new ownership.

China Oceanwide and IDG Capital announced yesterday a definitive agreement to acquire the entire IDG package. The Wall Street Journal reports that China Oceanwide will pay under $1 billion — less than a quarter of the $4 billion in revenues estimated by IDG insiders in early 2016

Press Relase: Wilmington plc (“Wilmington” or the “Group”), the knowledge leader in Risk & Compliance, Finance, Legal, and Insight, announces it has reached agreement to acquire the Health Service Journal (“HSJ” and the “Acquisition”), the UK’s leading health information, insight and networking business, from Ascential plc for £19m with an adjustment for working capital, payable on completion. The consideration is to be funded from the Group’s existing debt facilities. The Acquisition is expected to complete on 31 January 2017

Pearson’s shares tumbled more than 25 per cent this morning, after the education company withdrew its profit goal for 2018. It has also announced plans to sell its stake in publisher Penguin House, after an “unprecedented period of change and volatility”. A textbook perfect storm

GROW London, the contemporary garden fair, has been acquired by Clarion Events from The Affordable Art Fair.

The show will move from Hampstead heath, where it has been held since 2014, to Olympia London under the umbrella of Clarion’s new House & Garden Festival