Penske Media Corporation acquires Variety from Reed Business Information

October 9, 2012 — Fusion DigiNet

Penske Media Corporation, a digital media and publishing company, has purchased Variety from Reed Business Information, part of Reed Elsevier. Terms of the asset purchase agreement between the parties were not disclosed.

Jay Penske, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of PMC, said, “Since 1905, Variety has been the world’s premier entertainment news source, and is today one of the most recognized global media brands.  We are thrilled to welcome Variety and its exceptional team into the PMC organization.  As part of this significant acquisition, we plan to rapidly build upon Variety’s foundation while extending this invaluable brand’s presence across the web, broadcast, mobile, and international markets.”

“We are enthusiastic that PMC will become the new steward of the great Variety franchise, which Reed Elsevier has built over the past 25 years, and the Silverman family for the 80 years before that,” said Neil Stiles, President of Variety. He added, “PMC is uniquely positioned to preserve and build the market presence of Variety.  Their shared values and complementary assets provides for many new opportunities for the business model and brand.”

For more than a century, Variety has set the standard for comprehensive and relevant entertainment industry news, with resolute attention to the highest journalistic standards. The Variety business today includes Daily Variety, Weekly Variety, Conferences & Events, along with Variety.com’s searchable archives, interactive box office charting, credits database, film and television data business, in-depth industry calendar, and reviews dating back to 1914.

Mark Kelsey, CEO of Reed Business Information, said: “Variety is an iconic title serving the film and entertainment industry for more than 100 years. With RBI’s increasing focus on data services, it makes sense for us to sell the Variety business. Variety has an incredibly talented team who have successfully innovated and expanded the franchise in industry news and analysis. I have no doubt the business will continue to thrive under PMC’s ownership.”

“We couldn’t be more excited to now operate two of the finest brands in business of entertainment category,” said Nic Paul, SVP Entertainment Sales at PMC. He added, “Deadline.com’s supremacy in breaking news, and Variety’s extraordinary content and industry analysis, coupled with readership that combines key industry decision makers and influencers, creates a compelling value proposition for our partners and advertisers.”

Debt and equity financing for the transaction was provided by affiliates of Third Point LLC.  Evercore Partners advised Reed Elsevier on the sale transaction.

USA, Los Angeles

Related articles:

 

 

 

Posted in Content Media, Publishers, ~Europe, ~North America. Tags: , , . Leave a Comment »

Euromoney Institutional Investor PLC – pre-close trading update

September 25, 2012 — Fusion DigiNet

Euromoney Institutional Investor PLC have issued a pre-close trading update ahead of the announcement of its results for the year to September 30, 2012.

Trading

Since issuing its Interim Management Statement on July 25, 2012, trading has continued in line with the board’s expectations.  As highlighted in that statement, market conditions became noticeably tougher from June, particularly in Europe.  As a result, revenues for the fourth quarter are expected to be broadly in line with the same period last year, with growth in subscriptions offset by weakness in advertising and delegate revenues.

Total revenues for the year to September 30, 2012 are expected to show a headline increase of approximately 9% on 2011.  The underlying increase, excluding acquisitions, is expected to be 3%.  Exchange rate movements have not had a significant impact on headline or underlying revenues.

Despite the challenging market conditions, the group expects to announce a record adjusted profit before tax* of not less than £105 million for the year to September 30, 2012 (2011: £92.7 million), helped by a reduction in net finance costs following the sharp reduction in the group’s net debt, as well as a lower long-term incentive expense.

Financial Position

At current exchange rates, group net debt at September 30, 2012 is expected to be no more than £40 million, against £88.5 million at March 31, reflecting the group’s strong second half operating cash flows.  Movements in the US dollar exchange rate have not had a significant effect on net debt levels.

Next Trading Update

The year end results will be announced on the morning of November 15, 2012, followed by an analyst presentation and investor meetings.

* Adjusted profit before tax is profit before tax, acquired intangible amortisation, accelerated long-term incentive expense, exceptional items, movements in deferred consideration, and non-cash movements in acquisition option commitment values.

UK, London

Related articles

Posted in Conference/Exhibitions/Events, Content Media, Internet Media, Market Data & Information, Publishers, ~Europe. Tags: , . Leave a Comment »

Mediafed acquires Taptu

September 22, 2012 — Fusion DigiNet

RSS advertising service Mediafed is acquiring mobile search and technology company, Taptu, known for its consumer apps and news aggregation platform. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

“Our acquisition of Taptu will create the first global platform to monetize RSS across all digital devices,” said Ashley Harrison, Chief Executive Officer of Mediafed. “This is the future of publishing and we are elated to gain the incredible Taptu product, technology, team and committed user base in this quest.”

UK, Cambridge & USA, Denver, CO

Posted in Content Media, Internet Media, Publishers, ~Europe, ~North America. Tags: . Leave a Comment »

Universal Music gets approval to buy EMI’s recorded music business

September 21, 2012 — Fusion DigiNet

UPDATE: Vivendi’s Universal Music Group has received EU regulatory approval to buy EMI’s recorded music unit for $1.9 billion after agreeing to sell record labels that bring in nearly a third of the British company’s revenues.

Original story: Universal Music could get approval to buy EMI’s recorded music business as early as tomorrow Posted on September 21, 2012

Posted in Content Media, Publishers, ~Europe. Tags: , , . Leave a Comment »

Universal Music could get approval to buy EMI’s recorded music business as early as tomorrow

September 21, 2012 — Fusion DigiNet

The FT is reporting that European and US competition regulators could approve Universal Music’s £1.2 billion bid for EMI’s recorded music business as early as Friday, but will demand that the Vivendi-owned Universal Music sell off at least a third of the company. The deal has already been cleared in several countries, including Australia and Japan.

Read the full story

 

Posted in Broadcasting, Content Media, Internet Media, Publishers, ~Europe. Leave a Comment »

Dice Holdings acquires Geeknet’s online media business for $20M

September 18, 2012 — Fusion DigiNet

Dice Holdings, a provider of specialised career websites has acquired Geeknet’s online media business, including Slashdot and SourceForge. Dice Holdings acquired the business for $20 million in cash.  In 2011, the online media properties generated $20 million in Revenues.

“The acquisition of these premier technology sites fits squarely into our strategy of providing content and services that are important to tech professionals in their everyday work lives,” said Scot Melland, Chairman, President & CEO of Dice Holdings, Inc. “The SourceForge and Slashdot communities will enable our customers to reach millions of engaged tech professionals on a regular basis and significantly extends our company’s reach into the global tech community.”

The sites include:

  • Slashdot, a user-generated news, analysis, peer question and professional insight community.  Tech professionals moderate the site which averages more than 5,300 comments daily and 3.7 million unique visitors each month.
  • SourceForge, a destination for technology professionals and enthusiasts to develop, download, review and publish open source software, much of which they use in their own organizations.  Approximately 80 percent of its roughly 40 million monthly unique visitors are outside the U.S.
  • Freecode, one of the largest indexes of Linux, Unix and cross-platform software, as well as mobile applications generates nearly 500,000 unique visitors each month.

USA, New York, NY & Canada, Fairfax, VA

Related Articles:

Posted in Content Media, Internet Media, Publishers, ~North America. Tags: , . Leave a Comment »

Nine Entertainment Co. is to sell ACP Magazines Ltd to Bauer Media Group

September 18, 2012 — Fusion DigiNet

Nine Entertainment Co. is to sell ACP Magazines Ltd to Bauer Media Group. The sale is expected to close in the next four to eight weeks. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

ACP, which was established in 1933, is Australia and New Zealand’s largest magazine publisher, reaching over 15 million Australians each year. With leading magazine titles in almost every category, ACP’s major brands include The Australian Women’s Weekly, Woman’s Day, Cleo, Take 5, TV Week, Australian House & Garden, Gourmet Traveller and Zoo. ACP also operates a highly successful Trader and Custom business.

“The decision to sell the magazine business is not one we have made lightly. On balance however, the sale provides NEC with an attractive all cash valuation and ACP with the benefits of being part of a global publisher organisation. This sale will also allow us to focus on our core television and growing digital and events businesses.” said David Gyngell, Chief Executive Officer of NEC.

“We are delighted to welcome ACP as a member of the Bauer Media Group”, said publisher and owner Yvonne Bauer, “ACP fits our strategy of developing the Bauer Media Group globally, we believe in print, and ACP´s strong brands in Australia and New Zealand are perfect platforms to expand into digital areas.”

The impact of the sale on the operations of both NEC and ACP is expected to be minimal. Post completion, NEC and ACP will continue to work closely together in a number of areas including go to market strategies under the NEC operated “Powered” cross platform unit. Powered will continue to deliver ideas and insights utilising the breadth of media that the combined strength of NEC and ACP bring.

Matthew Stanton, CEO of ACP commented “Being part of the Bauer Media Group provides ACP with a positive and clear future, under an owner who is focussed on magazines and who will support investment and growth in our business. This outcome provides a commitment for the long term for both our brands and our people.”

About Nine Entertainment Co.Nine Entertainment Co. (NEC) is Australia’s most diversified media and entertainment group, a communication powerhouse delivering a world of media information and entertainment to millions of Australians. It’s assets include the Nine Network Australia, NBN Television, Australian News Channel, ACP Magazines, a 50% interest in Mi9, and entertainment entities, Ticketek and the Allphones Arena. Nine Entertainment Co. is owned by CVC Asia Pacific Limited.

Germany, Hamburg & Australia, Sydney & New Zealand, Auckland

Related articles:

Posted in Content Media, Internet Media, Publishers, ~Europe, ~Oceana. Leave a Comment »

Wilmington Group reports full year results for the year ended 30 June 2012

September 18, 2012 — Fusion DigiNet

Wilmington Group plc, the professional information and training group, has announced its results for the year ended 30 June 2012.

Highlights

  • Adjusted EBITA increased by 10.2% to £16.5m (2011: £14.9m)
  • Adjusted EBITA margins improved to 19.3% (2011:17.8%)
  • Adjusted Profit before Tax up 4.6% to £14.0 million (2011: £13.4 million) on revenues up 1.8% to £85.3m (2011: £83.8m): statutory profit before tax increased by 4.1% to £6.3m
  • Publishing & Information revenues from the higher margin online/digital business have increased to 76% (2011: 72%), with print decreasing to 11% (2011: 16%)
  • Continued strong cash generation, with 109% (2011: 111%) cash conversion of operating profit
  • Net debt £3.8m lower at £36.2m (2011: £40.0m)
  • Planned sale of surplus freehold property
  • Exited contract directory publishing
  • Proposed final dividend of 3.5 pence per share, making a full year maintained dividend of 7.0 pence per share

Mark Asplin, Chairman, commented: “As part of our transition to a higher margin better quality business, a number of major operational challenges have been successfully addressed during the year.  The result is a more streamlined, focussed and profitable business.

The legal training business is now more profitable and in better shape than it was twelve months ago, although market conditions affecting our client base remain difficult.  The phasing out of legacy publishing products will continue during the current year as the Group continues to invest in subscription based digital products and migrates its business away from print directories and services in which it does not own intellectual property. We expect the remainder of our core businesses to continue to show growth. We are also pleased with the progress we are making towards achieving our medium term financial targets.”

Full details of the results and an investors presentation are available here.

Related articles:

Posted in Conference/Exhibitions/Events, Content Media, Market Data & Information, Publishers, Training/Education, ~Europe. Tags: , . Leave a Comment »

Wolters Kluwer Tax & Accounting acquires the assets of BSI, a provider of international tax, legal, business and investment information

September 14, 2012 — Fusion DigiNet

Wolters Kluwer Tax & Accounting has acquired the assets of BSI, a provider of timely international tax, legal, business and investment information. BSI was founded in 1992 with headquarters in Hastings, U.K. The company will remain in the U.K. Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. BSI will become part of CCH, a Wolters Kluwer business.

“Keeping current with complex and changing tax law is a challenge faced by professionals today across the globe, and with the addition of BSI’s premier content and coverage to CCH and Wolters Kluwer, we’re now uniquely able to help our customers overcome that challenge,” said Wolters Kluwer Tax & Accounting CEO Kevin Robert. “The best just got better. And, we’ll continue to invest in expanding our international corporate tax solutions to help professionals around the world.”

CCH will continue to deliver BSI’s services as distinct offerings under the CCH brand name. CCH also plans to enhance current BSI offerings, creating new products and building out integration between CCH and BSI content. BSI has been a Wolters Kluwer business partner since 2008.

USA, Riverwoods, IL & UK, Hastings, East Sussex

Related articles:

Posted in Content Media, Internet Media, Publishers, ~Europe, ~North America. Tags: , . Leave a Comment »

SimpleTuition acquires ValoreBooks

September 14, 2012 — Fusion DigiNet

SimpleTuition has acquired ValoreBooks, an online textbook marketplace which offers discounts on new and used textbooks as well as rentals.

“SimpleTuition is dedicated to helping students and their families afford the cost of college,” said Kevin Walker, co-founder and CEO of SimpleTuition. “When you think about where students spend their money, textbooks are a big expense. The team at ValoreBooks has built a tremendous marketplace that has some of the best textbook selection and prices available today. Additionally, they share our vision for helping students save by comparing their options. SimpleTuition has done it with student loans, and ValoreBooks has done it for new, used and rental textbooks. Bringing the two companies together is a natural fit and allows us to help over 10 million students and families a year.”

ValoreBooks was founded in 2002 and was an early pioneer in the online textbook market. It provides students with the low textbook prices by connecting them with sellers from all over the country. The ValoreBooks marketplace now boasts over 18 million titles from 20,000 sellers. Customers can easily compare prices on titles and even see new, used and rental options side-by-side.

USA, Boston, MA

 

Posted in Content Media, Publishers, ~North America. Leave a Comment »
« Older posts
Newer posts »