Based on what has been made public, Michael Parker, managing director of AdMedia Partners, which specializes in media mergers, says: "I'm a little surprised that, shall we say, major players haven't come into this arena, at the very least to take a closer look. Newsweek has huge brand equity in the marketplace, a wonderful reputation editorially." But, he says, potential buyers must be asking: "Who's going to do it better if The Washington Post Company can't figure this out?" The company has owned the magazine since 1961.
-Michael E. Parker, Managing Director

Publishers See Stock Price Uptick. New cost structures, greater confidence spurs reverse in stock undervaluing.
"It seems to me that what is going on here to a large extent is that investors simply viewed these companies too negatively a year ago," Seth Alpert, partner and managing director at AdMedia Partners, says about the overall gains realized among public publishing companies. "As confidence, and to some extent revenue and profits, has improved, so have their share prices.

The "great unknown" Alpert says, is whether the reviving economy will continue to bolster these stock prices in line with current investor expectations, or if investors will "again decide that they are overpriced and drive share values back down." "If you look at a 52-week chart for any of these companies you will see pretty high price volatility, a clear reflection of investors' uncertainty about the prospects for these businesses," he says.
-Seth R. Alpert, Managing Director

Privately held Bloomberg said the annual growth in its terminal business, in this difficult time for the financial industry, is about 2%. "They're selling to an audience that's been significantly depleted over the past year with various casualties on Wall Street. I don't think they're selling a lot to Lehman Brothers anyway," said Seth Alpert, partner-managing director at media investment bank AdMedia Partners. [...]

"If anybody can make BusinessWeek work, it's them," AdMedia's Alpert said.
-Seth R. Alpert, Managing Director

The reaction of Standard & Poor's Ratings Services to Penton Media's pre-packaged Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing last week was to downgrade Penton Media Business Holding's corporate credit rating to D.

Other industry observers had a more positive impression of Penton and its future. "It's really not surprising," said Mike Parker, managing director at AdMedia Partners. Advanstar, Cygnus Business Media and Questex Media have either financially restructured or filed for bankruptcy protection in the past year. "I don't think that this is the last we've heard of these situations," Parker said.
-Michael E. Parker, Managing Director

2010 could mean the return of the strategic acquisition.
"What we saw more going on than we would [have] liked were distressed transactions--BusinessWeek was the primary example," says Seth Alpert, partner and managing director at AdMedia Partners. "If you're a seller, you're just looking to get out from under. If you're the buyer, you're hoping your infrastructure and knowledge will turn someone else's losing business into a money making business." [...]

But the size of digital companies can be a problem--many are either too small to be attractive or too large to be swallowed by a publisher. "It appears that the digital media world is like the opposite of the bell curve--there are a whole bunch of people at the tiny end, a certain number of people that are at the high end, and then very little if anything in between," says Alpert. "That's not what you would expect in most industries. There is no middle in this market."

But while publishers debate "build or buy" when it comes to ramping up their digital business, it may be harder to get deals done, particularly if a publisher is trying to buy a digital startup. Alpert cites digital marketing agency iCrossing, which turned down a $250 million offer from Hearst.

"Larger digital properties view their companies as very valuable-more so than a magazine publisher," says Alpert. "That makes it problematic for publishers to buy companies because they will be paying valuations that may exceed their own."
-Seth R. Alpert, Managing Director

The U.S. arm of Japan's biggest ad-agency network, Dentsu Holdings USA, has acquired New York-based Innovation Interactive, which owns digital agency 360i, search firm Search Ignite and analytics and targeting practice Net Mining. And that means there's one less digital agency of scale on the market.

"I think digital is where the growth is right now, so if you want a major presence in U.S., there are a smaller number of agencies out there," said Seth Alpert, managing director of New York-based [AdMedia Partners], an investment bank that specializes in ad and marketing deals.
-Seth R. Alpert, Managing Director

In a sign that merger-and-acquisition activity is revving up on Madison Avenue, one of the country's largest independent digital-marketing firms, iCrossing, has hired an investment bank and is holding talks with possible suitors, according to several people familiar with the matter. [...]

"Activity is finally heating up," said Seth R. Alpert, managing director of AdMedia Partners, a New York investment bank that specializes in M&A deals in the ad and marketing industries but isn't involved in the iCrossing talks.
-Seth R. Alpert, Managing Director

Although there are signs of a thaw in media M&A activity, most media companies are not expected to make any major deals before year's end, according to Mike Klingensmith, managing director of media banker AdMedia Partners.

"There's been a necessity [among media companies] to redo their capital structures. Everybody has been trying to put the fires out; so the focus has not been on M&A, except in distressed situations," said Klingensmith, who spent 31 years at Time Inc., most recently as exec VP, before joining AdMedia Partners in April 2008 as senior adviser. "But I think it's a real thaw."

Klingensmith pointed to Adobe Systems' pending acquisition of Web analytics company Omniture for $1.8 billion and the bidding for Travel Channel (which could fetch up to $1 billion) as examples of how the media M&A marketplace is starting to pick up.

He said that as the economy starts to recover, traditional media players with heavy exposure to print properties will continue to "become more digital" via acquisitions. "That would be something I definitely see toward the end of this year and on into next year," he said.

Klingensmith added that marketing services and online media properties remain the most attractive media assets to potential suitors. "Multiplatform companies that are principally print-driven are going to have to show more tangible evidence of an uptick in advertising before those [types of] deals happen," he said. �M.S.

DO: Buyers should look for opportunistic situations now because prices are right�but it's a bit like finding a needle in a haystack.

DON'T: Sellers should not assume the media business is going to be ailing forever. Eventually, companies are going to have to get back in the business of marketing their products.

In what was one of the worst-kept secrets in b-to-b media, Cygnus Business Media announced Monday that it has named John French as its CEO. [...]

"John French has a very good reputation," said Mike Parker, managing director of AdMedia Partners. "He didn't spend a lot of time at Penton, but he helped position that company so that when his successor came in it was a stronger company than when he started. I think he's a good, solid choice." [...]

"I think it is serviceable," Parker said of Cygnus' debt, "but that's not to say that (given the economy) that it's not going to be difficult. Like a lot of other (b-to-b media companies) they will have a tough row to hoe."
-Michael E. Parker, Managing Director

After the unwinding of Incisive Media's acquisition of ALM as part of a debt restructuring, once-again-independent ALM will invest in the development of end-user-funded products, upgrading its Web sites and expanding its competitive intelligence offerings, said William Pollak, president-CEO of the new ALM. [...]

Michael Parker, managing director of AdMedia Partners, observed that a deal like this one is "pretty unusual." However, with the current "lack of financing, cost of financing and lack of potential buyers, this has become more of a solution than it was in the past," he said.

As to whether other media companies are poised to go through a similar restructuring, Parker said, "I don't think you can generalize. It's going to be case by case, depending on the level of debt, the leverage, the financial markets and all the economic factors that are affecting everyone."
-Michael E. Parker, Managing Director

Mike Parker, managing director of AdMedia Partners, said: "I think we're seeing some light at the end of the tunnel. I certainly think the Reed Elsevier decision is a precursor of sorts." [...]

"It's very much a buyer's market, and anything that is going to be bought is going at a lower price than it would have a year and a half ago," Parker said.
-Michael E. Parker, Managing Director

There are signs of life in the b-to-b media mergers and acquisition market, which was dismal in the first half of 2009. [...]

"I think we're seeing some light at the end of the tunnel," said Mike Parker, managing director at AdMedia Partners. "I certainly [think the Reed Elsevier decision is a precursor of sorts."
-Michael E. Parker, Managing Director

Exploring more lucrative ad models, Hulu has tapped AudienceScience -- the behavioral targeting firm formerly known as Revenue Science -- to test the technology on its pure-play video ads. Jeff Hirsch, president and CEO of AudienceScience, recently predicted that behavioral targeting spend will grow to over $25 billion, and surpass search spending, by 2020. [...]

Despite the recession, the general industry consensus is that emerging marketing and media technology is continuing to grow this year. According to a study released earlier this year by AdMedia Partners, a clear majority -- 70% -- of senior industry executives expected behavioral marketing, in particular, to grow in the neighborhood of 5% this year.

Mark Edmiston, managing partner at New York-based AdMedia Partners, observes that "given the economic situation, there's much more attention paid to making a partnership rather than trying to acquire those assets. Time Warner was acquiring properties, now they're talking to people about partnerships. I don't think this is driven by strategy; it's practical." [...]

Last fall, everyone thought the world was coming to an end, according to Edmiston, but he says that within the last few months people are now saying, "We need to add and be more efficient and acquire the expertise through a partnership. There is money saving, but it's more about getting the right assets into a team without buying them." [...]

"It is a trend," Edmiston declares. "How long is it going to be? It's hard to keep these things going in the same direction. This is a temporary phenomenon, but it may be multi-year." He predicts that as the economy improves, more traditional mergers and acquisitions may again become commonplace.

A long way of saying that while [The Boston Globe] has value, perhaps $350-400 million, it may not have sufficient value for the Times to realize any cash from a buyer," said Mike Edmiston, AdMedia partners.

Mr. [Mark] Edmiston said selling a property that promises significant continuing losses is akin to selling it with a lot of debt attached. "In this case," he said, "it is cash to the seller plus the accumulated deficit caused by not addressing the problem until now.

"A buyer has to budget several hundred million to finance operating losses, restructuring charges and investment in 'new' Boston Globe businesses," he said, adding that he expects a turnaround in advertising and that without the losses, The Globe would be worth $350 million $400 million. But factoring in the losses, it becomes academic. The Globe, he writes, "may not have sufficient value for the Times to realize any cash from a buyer."

In 2006, 40 percent of the [Forbes] enterprise was sold to Elevation Partners, a private equity firm, for a reported $300 million, setting the value of the enterprise at $750 million. According to Mark M. Edmiston of AdMedia Partners, "it's probably not worth half of that now."

"I think it's a fairly strong warning sign," agreed Mike Parker, managing director of AdMedia Partners. "It's compounded by two obvious factors: first, by the transformation that so many companies are going through to digital and also by the state of the economy." [...]

Parker pointed out that the Publishers Information Bureau figures compiled by the Magazine Publishers of America show the same general trends in consumer print magazines. Between 2003 and 2007, ad pages never declined by more than 1.0% and never grew by more than 3.4%. In 2008, however, the slide steepened, with pages falling 11.7%. In the first quarter of 2009, consumer print ad pages fell 25.9%�comparable to the drop in b-to-b ad pages.
-Michael E. Parker, Managing Director

"I think it's a positive thing, because perhaps part of the reason for shutting down these publications is a function of large company expense, overhead," said Mike Parker, managing director of media investment bank AdMedia Partners. "There are some entrepreneurial guys looking at this and saying, "We can produce the same thing for far less money."
-Michael E. Parker, Managing Director

Despite pent-up demand among both private equity companies and strategic players, M&A activity in the media sector will probably stay sluggish for the rest of the year because of a lack of financing, said Mike Parker, managing director of media investment bank AdMedia Partners.

"2009 is going to be slow all the way around," he said. "The 'fear factor' is strong everywhere; and the economy needs to improve and the stock market needs to bounce back in order to free up a lot of potential deals."

Online media properties and interactive marketing services remain the most attractive assets to buyers, Parker said. For example, in February AdMedia Partners represented Mr. Youth, a social marketing agency that focuses on word-of-mouth, social interactive and experiential marketing, in a sale to private equity companies Alta Communications and Mustang Group. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

"There's a lot of pent-up demand on the private equity side that should get some traction in the second half of the year," Parker said.

Strategic players will continue to focus on acquiring small and midsize properties that can complement existing portfolios, but the deal volume will be moderate, Parker said. He added that there are "a couple of potential b-to-b deals that should get done this year because they're a function of need." He declined to be more specific. -M.S.

DO: Buyers should continue to look far and wide for potential acquisitions, particularly in the distressed properties category.

DON'T: Despite all of the discouraging economic news, buyers and sellers need to avoid panic.
-Michael E. Parker, Managing Director

"Portfolio was making headway and establishing a niche for itself separate and apart from other business magazines," said Michael Parker, managing director of AdMedia Partners. Although the depth of the current recession caught most people by surprise, there were already signs of trouble in the business magazine category when Portfolio debuted, he said. "There were skeptics from the beginning," he said.
-Michael E. Parker, Managing Director

At many media companies, sales operations are changing because the sales characteristics needed to drive revenue have changed, said Frank J. Connolly Jr., a managing director at media investment bank AdMedia Partners. Selling reach or branding is often not where the game is played online.

"How they approach their client needs to be from a standpoint of accountability media," Connolly said.
-Frank J. Connolly, Jr., Managing Director

Mike Parker, managing director of media investment bank AdMedia Partners, is far less pessimistic about the state of trade magazines. "If, in a sense, they [tech publications] are canaries in a coal mine and harbingers of the future, I think it's a long-term future." [...]

There does, however, appear to be a difference in how tech and nontech magazines are being folded. The nontech books are being pushed into closure by the economy, while the tech publications are jumping of their own volition�at least in part�and landing on established Web properties. "It came a little bit sooner than they wanted it to, but they have been preparing for years," Parker said of the discontinuation of the print versions of PC Magazine and Computer Shopper.
-Michael E. Parker, Managing Director

"In many ways, it's a perfect storm," said Mike Parker, managing director of media investment bank AdMedia Partners. "Nobody that I have talked to has experienced the kind of times that we are experiencing right now. The way that private equity has been doing its business in the last few years is going to dramatically change."
-Michael E. Parker, Managing Director

"There's your balancing act," said Michael Parker, managing director of media investment bank AdMedia Partners. "As a b-to-b media publisher, you have to reduce costs, which means you have to lay off X number of people. But you have to beef up online content at the same time. That's the trick."
-Michael E. Parker, Managing Director

Mark Edmiston, managing director of media investment bank AdMedia Partners, said that while all luxury magazine publishers are facing tough times, Doubledown's ownership situation left it more vulnerable than Niche, which is backed by the well-heeled Greenspun family; and Modern Luxury, which is owned by private equity fund Clarity Partners.

"It's a bad environment for everyone, but they had a single backer in Jim Dunning, and they're in a category where the bloom is off that rose," he said.

Nearly two weeks after Christie Hefner announced plans to step down as CEO of Playboy Enterprises, insiders at the company are still puzzled by exactly what it means. But they do have some theories. [...]

"It makes sense," agrees Mark Edmiston, managing director of AdMedia Partners, adding that Christie Hefner's exit would be logical outgrowth of that. "If you needed to have new investors, they would want a new management team."

Reed Elsevier, which has been trying for nine months to unload its worldwide print business, is now yanking the titles off the auction block. [...]

Added Michael Parker, managing director at Ad Media Partners, "My gut still says they pull back for awhile and then sell off various groups of magazines."

The company's most sizeable holdings are in the construction arena, where it has more than 50 magazines. Also in the grab-bag of 80 titles and 55 Web sites is Multichannel News, Library Journal and Broadcasting & Cable.
-Michael E. Parker, Managing Director

Last week's beta launch of "Times Extra," an alternative home page for NYTimes.com that offers news from outside sources, may fuel the growing trend among media companies of incorporating third-party content onto their Web sites.

"It's probably a smart move and a move that we'll see more of," said Michael Parker, managing director of media investment banking firm AdMedia Partners. "In newspapers and, to a lesser extent, magazines, everyone is looking for new revenue streams and new ways to serve readers." He added that other media companies are going to give Times Extra "a real serious look."
-Michael E. Parker, Managing Director

Former AOL head Jonathan Miller is reportedly raising money to buy Yahoo, or a portion of the battered and bruised Web giant. The Wall Street Journal broke the news Tuesday, citing people familiar with the matter. The New York Post, however, reported this morning that Miller is raising funds to expand Velocity, and that it was very unlikely he would make a run at Yahoo. [...]

"It's safe to assume they wouldn't be doing this on their own," said Phil Palazzo, a managing director at AdMedia Partners, an investment bank specializing in marketing transactions. "Velocity's never done anything of this size."

"Dentsu hasn't chosen to go the route of WPP Group or Omnicom Group and grow through acquisitions," says Philip Palazzo, a partner at AdMedia Partners, an investment bank that specializes in advertising and marketing. "Everyone assumed they would be much further along in North America, but they have been extremely cautious, and have chosen to grow through organic growth."

"It's clearly a volatile period, but deals are still getting done," said Philip Palazzo, managing director AdMedia Partners. "Even with the Wall Street volatility [last] week, we have a number of deals that are still in progress that we expect to complete in very short order."

"If you look at the composition of the company, it doesn't appear likely that anyone who gets the whole kit and caboodle will keep the whole kit and caboodle," said Michael Parker, managing director of AdMedia Partners. "The most likely scenario is that the company would be divided up by verticals rather than geographically."

Parker said the wild card will be financing. Reed Elsevier is reportedly offering a loan of $330 million and has lined up banks to fund about $1 billion more of an estimated price of at least $1.8 billion. "In the tight credit market we have, this is an enticing option," he said."
-Michael E. Parker, Managing Director

But if Microsoft could find the right sort of deal -- especially one that was based on assets, rather than a cash valuation that would obviously highlight the high price it paid for Avenue A -- Redmond might just go for it. "You'd have to believe it's a bit of an ugly [thing] for Microsoft [to sell at that price], not that they can't withstand it," said Seth Alpert, managing director of AdMedia Partners. "And if that's the case, the idea of an asset swap might be useful to mask some of the value questions."
-Seth R. Alpert, Managing Director

"[Rodale has] been really focusing on online, and they're doing well with that," said Mark Edmiston, managing director of investment banking firm AdMedia Partners. "They're going in the right direction."

"People were talking about The New Yorker more in the past three days than in the last two years," says Mark Edmiston, a managing director at investment banking firm AdMedia Partners."

[Doug] Worple engaged AdMedia Partners, New York, to help Barefoot explore the range of possible suitors, including other holding companies, venture capital and other overseas players. In the end, the shop came back around to BBDO, deeming it the best fit culturally.
-Abbott C. Jones

With the success of My Space, Facebook and LinkedIn, many media companies have launched (or are considering launching) online social networking sites aimed at their constituencies. The question is: Are such programs viable in niche b-to-b markets?

The answer is that social networking sites are probably not for every industry. Seth Alpert, managing director of media investment bank AdMedia Partners, said vertical search may provide a cautionary tale for b-to-b publishers hoping to generate revenue via online social networking.

"I think it's going to be very tough," Alpert said of the prospects for b-to-b social networking. He pointed out that as recently as three or four years ago, the success of Google prompted many to believe that vertical search would be a strong revenue producer for niche b-to-b publishers. For the most part, it hasn't worked out that way.

"Google is a habit, and habits are hard to break," Alpert said. "You've got to have a good reason to break that habit."

He cautioned that MySpace and similar social networking sites, which have already aggregated large audiences and are dividing them into smaller, niche groups, are habit forming-and may have beaten b-to-b publishers to the punch. "The big challenge in starting something is getting a conversation going," he said.

Do: Consider creating a social networking site if your audience is large-say, more than 100,000 people.

Don't: It's wrong to assume a social networking site takes minimal work. It must at the very least be monitored and often seeded with content to create more postings.
-Seth R. Alpert, Managing Director

"[Kekst & Co. has] been approached over the years" but [they] have refused to consider any offers, said Abbott Jones, a managing partner at investment bank AdMedia Partners.
-Abbott C. Jones

Notes from Journ�e Magazine 2008: "Editors are the original Google"
Delivering his keynote address at Journ�e Magazine 2008 yesterday, Mark Edmiston of New York-based AdMedia Partners argued that magazines are better placed than other media to survive the challenges posed by the Internet . "I think magazines will play an enormous influence in the evolving media world," The one-day conference was hosted by Magazines du Qu�bec.

Conventional wisdom has it that young people don't read, want their information immediately and see magazines as old-fashioned, Edmiston said. But "200 years of history doesn't fade away just like that." Fifty years from now, people will still read magazines and the basic model will not be that different from what it is today.

Magazines have an attractive price-value relationship and contain lots of information in a user-friendly package. However, their advantage lies in their ability to gather, organize and distribute data. "Magazine editors are the original Google search engine," Edmiston said. "Consumers need an editor, a filter from the stuff thrown at them from the Web, and who better than editors?"

The Web gives magazines their best opportunity to strut their stuff. Brands have always been important, Edmiston said, but they're vital online. On an "unregulated and irresponsible" Web, magazine brands can ensure information is reliable. "Do you want RSS feeds of news from any source or do you want Time or Newsweek to tell you what's important?"

Traditional mediums will have to define new roles online, Edmiston said. Regularly scheduled TV, for example, is disappearing. As a result more TV will be broadcast on demand over the Internet. Newspapers will likely become more targeted, while radio will become even more fragmented, sinceit can be delivered around the world on the Internet.

As for magazines, Edmiston warned that the worst aphorism to follow in a time of change is "if it ain't broke don't fix it." The old magazine model, where information is delivered weekly, monthly or quarterly, is going. It will be replaced by a "platform agnostic" content model that is driven by consumer needs-readers will be able to access info when and where needed.

Although the Web will be a major medium that could take as much as 50% of media advertising dollars in time, Edmiston belives "the Web and traditional media are complimentary, not mutually exclusive."

Asked if he'd still get into the magazine industry if he was 20, Edmiston replied: "I'm excited about the prospects. The industry has been slow to move but will be a major player on the Web."

On one hand, 68% of US online marketers polled by iMedia Connection said established media will lose dollars to user-generated content.

On the other hand, essentially the same percentage of respondents to an AdMedia Partners survey of US senior media executives said the growth potential of social networks was overhyped. Those same executives were almost evenly split as to whether the perceived growth potential of user-generated content was overhyped or accurate.

[Seth] Alpert argues that blogs, in particular blog networks, may have trouble generating reader loyalty, a factor that may give pause to advertisers. [...]

"It doesn't truly own the audience," Alpert says. "There's not a lot of proof that you could generate substantial advertising revenue through a blog network. Most of those companies are fairly small." [...]

"Prominent examples of these recent [blog] deals are clearly the exceptions," says AdMedia's Alpert. "The overall business is not mature enough. It needs to get to a level of legitimacy measured by audience size or revenue and profit, preferably both, in order for a lot more M&A to take place."
-Seth R. Alpert, Managing Director

Mark Edmiston, managing director of the media merger advisory firm AdMedia Partners Inc., said M&A activity slowed down primarily as a result of the ongoing credit crunch.

"Essentially what has happened is that the credit crisis has caused lenders to reduce the amount of leverage they are willing to put into a transaction," Edmiston said. "A year ago or 18 months ago, you were looking at [leverage that was] 6x, 7x, 8x or sometimes 9x cash flow. Now you are looking at 3.5x or 4x cash flow."

Those tightened financing requirements have caused many private equity buyers to rein in their spending. "The most active players in the past year or so have been private equity guys; and in the first quarter of this year, not only did they disappear but in fact you saw some of the bigger deals unraveling. Deals that have already been announced are not going to conclusion." [...]

"The strategic buyers in many cases were almost driven out of the market last year because there was so much private equity money floating around," Edmiston said. "And now you're seeing strategic buyers coming back into the market." [...]

Looking ahead, Edmiston said M&A activity in the media and new media industries is likely to pick up in 2008, though he believes it will at first remain centered around strategic buyers.

"Probably for the first half of the year, you are going to see the transactions that do close are going to be more likely to have either only or principally a strategic element to it," he said.

And those strategic buyers that do buy during this downturn, he noted, may find themselves taking home a bargain.

"Even though it's a little hard to value these businesses, they're not worthless ... and so at a price, it's a good deal," Edmiston said. When prices get low enough, he added, more buyers will emerge.

"People say that fear and greed are the two emotions that motivate this market," Edmiston said, "and when the fear goes away, the greed comes back and people say, 'Oh, what a deal.'"

"The mergers and acquisitions market for these interactive ad shops is still strong," says Seth Alpert, managing director of AdMedia Partners, a mergers and acquisitions advisory firm which worked on the i33 deal. "In the long term it gets harder to remain independent."
-Seth R. Alpert, Managing Director

McGovern speaks at "Breakfast with a Leader" sponsored by AdMedia Partners, a merger and acquisition advisor, and the Magazine Publishers of America (MPA)
Pat McGovern, founder and CEO of International Data Group (IDG), forecasts strong growth in China for B2C and B2B media

AdMedia Partners, a leading merger and acquisition advisor, and the Magazine Publishers of America (MPA) sponsored this morning's "Breakfast with a Leader" featuring Pat McGovern, the founder and CEO of International Data Group (IDG). In his address, McGovern reprised the history of international publishing ventures in mainland China and outlined the very attractive prospects for continuing development of B2C and B2B media in that country...

How do you plan to survive the looming recession?

"Fortunately, consolidation in the marketing communications and media businesses continues to generate activity. The growing number of interactive agencies and media Web sites provides an expanding group of potential sellers, while strategic and financial buyers�both domestic and offshore�continue to see solid investment opportunities. So far, so good."
-Abbott C. Jones

"As print continues to struggle in so many industries, all b-to-b companies are still trying to answer the digital question: How do we make money?" said Mike Parker, a managing director at media investment bank AdMedia Partners. "As volume increases in the digital space, [ad] dollars need to catch up to print levels."

Parker said UBM's restructuring of CMP should, at least on paper, improve customer relations by "splitting [the company] into vertical silos, as opposed to a horizontal sell."
-Michael E. Parker, Managing Director

AdMedia Partners worked as financial advisors to Russell Kern on the deal. AdMedia managing director Abbott Jones said that there is an "intense interest" in acquiring DM firms because they "represent accountability" and can show ROI.

"Russell has been approached by a variety of firms over the years, but Omnicom really seemed to offer a benefit to the company," Jones said."
-Abbott C. Jones

"It's a clear indication that the landscape is changing for the larger business-to-business publishers as print publications continue to struggle on the ad sales side," said Michael Parker, a managing director of the merger and acquisition advisory firm AdMedia Partners. [...]

"I think [Reed Elsevier will] come out as a group first, and then depending upon market reaction, they may have to bundle some of the publications," Mr. Parker said.
-Michael E. Parker, Managing Director

The Brown [Publishing Co.] acquisitions underscore the resilience of this sector of the marketplace, said Mark M. Edmiston, managing director of media investment bank AdMedia Partners. "There's a lot of opportunity in the local markets," he said. "If you're a Staples in Lancaster, Pa., you still need a place to advertise paper shredders, even if the national [advertising budget] is cut back."

Years ago, Roy Bostock played on Duke University's football team. Now the new chairman of Yahoo Inc. is facing a blitz from Microsoft Corp., and some blocking and tackling skills could come in handy. [...]

"Roy knows how to calculate shareholder value by melding and merging companies," says Abe Jones, a managing director at New York's AdMedia Partners, a boutique investment bank specializing in marketing transactions.
-Abbott C. Jones

"Too many boutique life science PR firms avoid recommending videos to clients because it means the firm will lose out on revenue it could capture if the work stayed in house," said Philip Palazzo, Jr., Managing Director, AdMedia Partners, Inc., a New York-based investment bank and financial advisory firm serving owners of privately held companies in health care marketing services, media and publishing, and related interactive businesses. "The service offering of the combined entity will be compelling for both clients and prospects."

AdMedia Partners To Sponsor Second Annual AlwaysOn OnMedia Conference in New York City
January 28-30, 2008

AlwaysOn OnMedia - a two-and-a-half day executive event featuring technology CEO's from Silicon Valley leading presentations and high-level debates with the global advertising and media establishment, about disrupting user behavior and creating new opportunities in the marketing, branding, advertising,and public relations industries...

Recession or not, holding companies, agencies and private equity firms are expecting another busy year of deal-making, as they scramble to bolster their new media capabilities and digital shops try to capitalize on relatively high valuation rates, according to a new survey from AdMedia Partners. [...]

"If you've got to have it, you've got to have it. It doesn't matter if times are tough," said Seth Alpert, a partner and managing director at AdMedia. "You don't want to make it tougher by not being able to fulfill all the needs of your clients."
-Seth R. Alpert, Managing Director

"Despite concerns of a recession or economic slowdown in the U.S., respondents were surprisingly optimistic about the environment for M&A deals and M&A valuations in 2008," said Abe Jones, managing partner at AdMedia Partners.
-Abbott C. Jones

M&A Advisor AdMedia Partners Sponsors Breakfast with New Chairman of Magazine Publishers of America (MPA), John Griffin
Executive VP of National Geographic Society and its Magazine Group's President outlines his thoughts on the industry and what magazines need to do to prosper.

AdMedia Partners, a leading M&A advisor, sponsored "Breakfast with a Leader" yesterday featuring John Q. Griffin, the new Chairman of the Magazine Publishers of America (MPA). Griffin, who steps up to Chairman of the MPA, while remaining the President of the Magazine Group, National Geographic Society, outlined his thoughts on the industry and what he believes magazines need to do to continue to prosper in this world of challenges and changes...