AdMedia frequently quoted in merger and acquisition news

It's a disorienting time in the media business. Consumers can read newspapers on their mobile phones, watch TV shows on their iPods, and befriend advertisers in cyberspace. [...]

The outlook would be even gloomier without the prospects of the Olympics and the presidential election, two traditionally rich sources of ads. The election alone represents a potential $2.5 billion windfall for television and radio stations, says Mark Edmiston, managing director of AdMedia Partners.

Cond� Nast Portfolio Magazine
December 18, 2007

"U.S. News has made the decision to basically pin its business model on [high school] rankings," said Mark M. Edmiston, a managing director of AdMedia Partners, an investment banking company. "They've basically given up the battle of competing with Time and Newsweek directly and carved out this niche of being the ranker."

New York Times
December 5, 2007

Even proponents of the M&A approach admit it is fraught with challenges. "Making acquisitions successful is a lot of work," said Seth Alpert, managing director at AdMedia Partners, which advised iCrossing during its acquisition of Proxicom. "We all remember what happened seven years ago. This pair of companies is trying to be smart about the deals. But that's not to deny there are challenges."
-Seth R. Alpert, Managing Director

Adweek
November 19, 2007

"Banks and financial institutions are tightening lending rates, which means the private equity companies will slow down their investment activities to a more measured pace and look for better values," said Parker, who was most recently senior VP at Nielsen Businessparker Media's Marketing/ Media Group. That opens a window for strategic players [...]
-Michael E. Parker, Managing Director

B to B
November 8, 2007

How Publishing Companies Position Themselves for Growth: Best Bets for the 21st Century
In a world of increasing media options, industry leaders must rethink their efforts to attract readers and advertisers, and expand the footprint of their brands. A panel of high-level executives discusses the topic at the Magazine Publishers of America's 2007 AMC conference.

Click here for the podcast of the session.

Magazine Publishers of America
October 29, 2007

"That sounds like a lot of money," said Seth Alpert, managing director at AdMedia Partners, an investment bank specializing in marketing transactions. [...]

[Alpert] added, however, that Dotspotter's tepid numbers could have actually attracted CBS to the site.

"Deals like this do often occur because the acquiring company has immediate plans to create value that the company being acquired couldn't create on its own," he said. "You're going to pay a lot more for a site that's already realized its potential."
-Seth R. Alpert, Managing Director

Online Media Daily
October 12, 2007

[Ted Pincus'] analysis is echoed by Phil Palazzo, MD at AdMedia Partners, the media and marketing-focused M&A advisory firm.

"In our sector, because the deals are smaller... the transactions are not as highly leveraged," he explains. "So getting financing for a $20 million or $40 million transaction in marketing services is a lot easier than financing Chrysler."

PR Week
September 12, 2007

Mark Edmiston, a managing director at media investment bank AdMedia Partners, who had shopped Business 2.0 on behalf of Time Inc., said Fortune may pick up around 25% of the ad dollars previously devoted to Business 2.0.

"It had turned into a tiny magazine, and tiny is not Time Inc.'s forte," Edmiston said. "But that doesn't mean that new economy business titles can't survive."

He added that advertisers are not necessarily going to ramp up spending on other business titles as a result of Business 2.0's shuttering. "They're not going to increase their budgets [with specific titles] just because Business 2.0 has gone away," he said.

B to B
September 11, 2007

[...] Mark Edmiston, a managing director at media investment bank AdMedia Partners, amplified comments from others that before embarking on a new print product, publishers have to make sure there will be a receptive audience. "Leveraging existing assets is one thing," he said. "More important is identifying a market first and then seeing how you best service it through whatever media," he said.

B to B
September 10, 2007

Mark Edmiston, managing director at AdMedia Partners, a financial advisory firm, says he once tried to buy the company in the early 1980s for the Washington Post Co., but at the time, he didn't think the Zagat concept would ever work beyond a couple of cities. He says the Zagats have more than delivered on the execution of their plans for expansion.

Cond� Nast Portfolio Magazine
September 4, 2007

"People are looking for pools of talent," said Greg Smith, a managing director at New York merger and acquisition firm AdMedia Partners. Smith, who estimated that the volume of digital deals this year is two to three times what it has been in years past, cited Google's $3 billion purchase of DoubleClick in particular as an accelerant. "It really sent shock waves through the industry," Smith said. "It just really got people's attention focused."
-Gregory C. Smith, Managing Director

Adweek
September 3, 2007

"[The market for interactive companies is] extremely competitive because most of the good companies are being pursued by multiple companies," says Seth R. Alpert, managing director of AdMedia Partners, a New York boutique investment bank specializing in advertising and marketing transactions.
-Seth R. Alpert, Managing Director

Wall Street Journal
August 22, 2007

The Backpacker sale suggested as much, said Polly Perkins Johnson, business-development director at AdMedia Partners. "Rodale is at a tipping point, where Hearst was maybe eight years ago, and that is recognizing that they could no longer sustain within their infrastructure and overhead the smaller properties," she said. "Therefore it sold Backpacker, yes to get cash but No. 2 to allow a smaller property to blossom on a smaller platform because the overhead of companies as they grow begins to crush these smaller properties."
-Polly Perkins Johnson

Advertising Age
August 9, 2007

"This is an Internet-TV play," said Mark Edmiston, a managing director at media investment bank AdMedia Partners, referring to the deal. "Of course, Dow Jones produces a newspaper, but Murdoch is going to work the electronic side. He wants [the Journal] distributed on new platforms, which is something the current Journal hasn't been very successful at," he added.

Edmiston said he doesn't expect any advertising fallout from the deal. "News Corp. is not going to scare away any advertisers," he said. "The Journal is still a great brand and is known for excellent business coverage."

B to B
July 31, 2007

"Fox Business doesn't make your heart beat faster, but a brand with the Journal's content and Dow Jones' resources would be a formidable competitor for business news," said Mark Edmiston, a managing director at media investment bank AdMedia Partners. He added that a News Corp. takeover of Dow Jones would give business advertisers access to a "powerful combination of TV, online and print delivering a comprehensive package of news."

B to B
July 17, 2007

"The site is doing particularly well," says Mark Edmiston, a managing director at investment banking firm AdMedia Partners. "In another year [New York] may be able to make a case that the magazine is the core of a multiplatform business."

Crain's New York Business
July 8, 2007

Phil Palazzo, an MD at AdMedia Partners who advised [Chandler Chicco Agency] on the deal, said that the PR industry's high growth rate is fuelling interest in it from acquirers outside of the traditional holding companies.

"[In] marketing in general, there's been an awful lot of interest from strategic and financial buyers," he said. "And that's certainly been the case with PR."

Palazzo pointed out that in both the [Financial Dynamics] transaction and in CCA's, the buyer was able to create a PR platform that they felt rounded out and complemented their other service offerings.

"[Inventiv] is a company that focuses only on top pharma and biotech clients, so they really understand what they do," he said. "The service offering, potentially, to clients is going to be much stronger as a result."

PR Week
June 27, 2007

"The parties are the business," said Mark A. Edmiston, managing director of AdMedia Partners, who did some work for Mr. [Jason] Binn several years ago. "Watching him work a room is like watching Derek Jeter play baseball."

New York Times
June 25, 2007

Charles Wrubel, managing partner of New York-based consulting and [financial advisory] group AdMedia Partners, said that a bid higher than Murdoch's is unlikely.

"Bidding up for Dow Jones has the potential of overvaluing the company to the point where it might not be worth it in the long run," Wrubel said. "Murdoch appears to have more of a stomach to handle a bidding war."

The Money Times
June 22, 2007

A higher bid than Murdoch's is unlikely, said Charles Wrubel, managing partner of AdMedia Partners, New York-based consulting and [financial advisory] group.

"Bidding up for Dow Jones has the potential of overvaluing the company to the point where it might not be worth it in the long run," Wrubel said. "Murdoch appears to have more of a stomach to handle a bidding war."

Bloomberg.com
June 19, 2007

Price Rationale: Standard ad agencies have been selling for an average multiple of five times earnings, says AdMedia Partners, a New York City [financial advisory firm]. The asking price here is just shy of five times 2006 earnings. (The [Illinois ad] agency handles digital work but not enough to fetch a premium price.)

Pros: AdMedia says that for an agency of this size to be healthy, its revenue per employee should fall between $150,000 and $200,000. With nearly $200,000 in revenue per employee, this agency is right on target. Plus, several clients are growing fast, which could translate into higher billings down the road.

Inc.com
June 1, 2007

As the Prospect of Microsoft selling off Avenue A|Razorfish looks less likely, industry watchers are speculating over which assets the software giant might add to bolster its new creative and media agency business. [...]

Still, Microsoft can't simply order from an agency menu, according to Seth Alpert, managing director at AdMedia Partners, [a financial advisory firm] specializing in marketing transactions. "AKQA is definitely not for sale at the moment."

"The agency business wasn't what drove the deal, but I think they are going to hang onto Avenue A and even grow that side of the business," said Alpert. [...] If and when Microsoft does go after additional agencies, aQuantive will be in the driver's seat, Alpert added.
-Seth R. Alpert, Managing Director

Online Media Daily
May 23, 2007

There's one local capability that could serve Chicago well in the fast-changing communications business: marketing services, research and data collection. "There are a lot of successful marketing services companies out there. There are a lot of quality direct marketing companies, and at a time when it's all about accountability, you'll be seeing more and more [acquisition] transactions," said Abe Jones, managing director, AdMedia Partners, New York.
-Abbott C. Jones

Adweek
May 14, 2007

Synergies aside, is Rupert Murdoch's $5 billion bid for Dow Jones & Company really about the media mogul's desire to acquire the patina of respectability that has eluded him as he built his News Corporation empire? [...] The New York Times' David Carr argues that the price that Mr. Murdoch is offering - $60 a share - is a multiple of ego, not earnings. [...] "When I used to work with Katharine Graham, she used to say his name and then almost spit on the ground," Mark M. Edmiston, managing director of AdMedia Partners, an investment bank, told Mr. Carr. "But capitalism is built on the highest and best use of capital and he understands that. Money has no conscience."

New York Times
May 7, 2007

As Internet media companies bulk up, more acquisitions are likely, both on a small scale like ScreenTonic and a larger one like DoubleClick, predicted Seth Alpert, managing director of AdMedia Partners, a New York investment advisory firm. "Scale really does matter," he said. "What comes with scale is knowledge and that knowledge is a significant advantage in the marketplace."
-Seth R. Alpert, Managing Director

Adweek
May 7, 2007

Primedia put the [Enthusiast Media group] up for sale in February. With $524.8 million in 2006 revenue, the group may fetch as much as $1 billion, according to Mark Edmiston, managing director at investment bank AdMedia Partners Inc. in New York.

New York Post
March 29, 2007

"Buyers are liquid, and both the strategic players and private equity companies have a lot of capital."
-Gregory C. Smith, Managing Director

B to B
March 12, 2007

Meredith has "identified holes in its portfolio" and gone after companies that could fill the gap, said Mark Edmiston, managing director at AdMedia Partners in New York. AdMedia brokered several of Meredith's recent acquisitions.

"The world Meredith grew up in has changed and they recognized they needed to be proactive by adding different kinds of resources," Edmiston said. "John Zieser knows exactly what he wants and the price he's going to pay."

DesMoinesRegister.com
March 4, 2007

The ad business is back to its consolidating ways. This time it is the burgeoning young Internet-ad shops that are up for grabs. In just the past two months, two high-profile digital-ad firms -- Digitas and AKQA -- have been acquired. The mergers-and-acquisitions boom in digital marketing is likely to continue in 2007, according to a new survey by AdMedia Partners, a New York boutique investment bank specializing in advertising and marketing transactions. This year's M&A activity is likely to focus on sectors such as search marketing, mobile marketing and buzz marketing, according to the Web-based survey of 3,200 ad and marketing executives and private-equity investors.
-Seth R. Alpert, Managing Director
-Abbott C. Jones

Wall Street Journal
February 21, 2007

Mark Edmiston, a Managing Director of AdMedia Partners, said, "As may be the case in many industries, respondents to our industry survey believe that in the year ahead financial buyers will continue to dominate the media M&A market. Respondents certainly think strategic buyers will also be active - just over half predict deals driven by strategic buyers will increase over 2006 and only a sliver anticipate a decrease - but private equity firms are expected to remain the strongest force."

Interbiznet Bugler
February 20, 2007

As the online ad market booms, private equity firms flush with investment capital are looking at an array of Web players with an eye toward combining them into large-scale digital marketing firms. . . . "There's a lot of money around," added Seth Alpert, managing director at AdMedia Partners, a New York M&A bank specializing in the marketing industry. "There's a perceived opportunity to create a different sort of marketing services company."
-Seth R. Alpert, Managing Director

Adweek
February 5, 2007

Media companies are starting to show strong interest in adding interactive firms to their portfolios, said Seth R. Alpert, managing director of AdMedia Partners, a New York investment bank that facilitates deals between advertising and marketing companies. AdMedia represented New Media Strategies in its recent acquisition. "Serving advertisers is now seen as being more broad than putting ink on paper or building Web sites," Alpert said.
-Seth R. Alpert, Managing Director

Washington Post
January 29, 2007

"The business model for magazines for many years was to give away subscriptions and get the advertisers to pay," said Mark [Edmiston], managing director, AdMedia Partners. "There's been a fundamental change. It's not just the Net. Twenty years ago, cars, liquor and tobacco were [about] 65 percent of advertising. Liquor's gone away, tobacco's gone away and cars have become a lot more targeted. So what Ann [Moore] is trying to do, and I think correctly, is permanently reposition to fit the new model."

Mediaweek
January 22, 2007

"As far as strategy is concerned, there is very little wiggle room," agreed Mark Edmiston, managing director of investment bank AdMedia Partners in New York. "Ad revenue will continue to decline since the consolidation of retail and the migration of classified to the Web are structural changes in the newspaper environment. This makes increasing ad revenue problematic so they will have to turn to increasing circulation revenue or cutting costs."

Los Angeles Business Journal
January 19, 2007

All that, of course, after a blowout 2006.

AdMedia managing director Mark Edmiston, who handles the media bank's magazine assignments, pins the projected boost in buying activity on a steady economy and relatively favorable borrowing conditions.

As for sellers, the anticipated increase is an appreciation by those contemplating exit strategies that our goldilocks environment can't last forever. "A seller who waits," Edmiston explains, "risks something really bad happening."

The Deal
January 15, 2007

The b-to-b media M&A marketplace has been going gangbusters for more than two years now-and the party shows no signs of slowing down in 2007.

According to a survey released last week by media investment bank AdMedia Partners, 71% of media executives expect their companies to participate in a deal this year. The media investment banking firm's third annual Top Management Survey was conducted in November at American Business Media's Top Management Meeting in Chicago.

B to B
January 15, 2007

"As advertisers spend more money online, they are increasingly open to being served by a new host of players," says Seth Alpert, managing director of AdMedia Partners, an investment bank that represented both Genex and New Media Strategies in the Meredith acquisitions.

Meredith began the transition in the late 1990s, producing custom and Internet-related publications for companies that include clothing retailer Charming Shoppes, DaimlerChrysler, Carnival Cruise Lines and Century 21. These publications are largely marketing tools. For Charming Shoppes, for instance, owner of the Lane Bryant, Fashion Bug and Catherine's retail stores, Meredith produces a magazine for plussized women called Figure. Eventually Meredith realized it could do more for those clients in the newmedia area if it acquired an agency. "With (Meredith's) custom publishing business, these guys are asking themselves, "What is this business really? Isn't that marketing?" Mr. Alpert says.
-Seth R. Alpert, Managing Director

The Wall Street Journal
January 10, 2007

"The internet changes everything," [Seth Alpert] said. "In a domain like the internet -- which is rapidly evolving, changing dynamically and still in a very formative or amorphous state -- the opportunity and the temptation to grow the relationship with the advertisers is more compelling than it ever would have been in the offline world.

"I'm not really going to speculate about who's next," Mr. Alpert added, "but I do think that this is a pair of transactions that is going to have a lot of people in media companies thinking 'What is this strategy?' and 'Should we be considering it?'"
-Seth R. Alpert, Managing Director

Advertising Age
January 10, 2007

Yet for a holding company like Publicis or Havas, the prey is becoming scarce. Many of today's top digital shops were snapped up during the first Web boom, investments that are finally paying off. What's more, holding companies will find private equity firms and other industry outsiders vying to establish a beachhead in advertising, predicted Seth Alpert, managing director at AdMedia Partners. "What we're seeing is that there are new competition to holding companies in these acquisition races," he said.
-Seth R. Alpert, Managing Director

Adweek
January 1, 2007

Mark Edmiston, managing director of AdMedia Partners, said 2006 not only marked the dominance of private equity, but also the resurgence of b-to-b. "B-to-b had been the quietest corner of the media market for years," he said. "The bubble burst after the recession of 2001 and that looked like the end of b-to-b. But now you have a company like Wasserstein that's put together almost a billion-dollar b-to-b company."

Edmiston says b-to-b is gaining interest from private equity firms that have found the b-to-b model to complement the new publishing model that is dominated by the Internet. "A lot of these companies are finding success in using the Wall Street Journal's model, which says if you want news go to our Web site and, if you want analysis, read our newspaper," he said.

On the consumer side, both [Scott] Peters and Edmiston said a lot of strategics, like Primedia, Time Inc., Hachette-Filipacchi and Hearst, are closing or selling off non-core assets, in many cases to private equity firms, as they shift their focus to digital media.
-Mark M. Edmiston

Folio Magazine
December 21, 2006

Publicis' acquisition of Digitas offers a rare glimpse into the real market value of pure-play digital agencies. . .

"The deal reflects the scarcity of pure-play interactive marketing companies of any significant size," says Abe Jones, managing director at AdMedia Partners, a New York investment bank specializing in ad industry deals. "There's aQuantive and the independently held AKQA."
-Abbott C. Jones

Online Media Daily
December 21, 2006

Both [marketing services and digital space] are expanding much faster than traditional advertising, as marketers increasingly demand ad approaches whose effectiveness can be more easily measured than conventional TV or print ads. That environment "argues for acquisitions in online and direct-marketing disciplines such as direct-response TV, direct mail and performance marketing," says Abe Jones, a managing director at New York's AdMedia Partners, a boutique investment bank specializing in marketing transactions.
-Abbott C. Jones

The Wall Street Journal
December 15, 2006

"This really is a sea change in how newspapers design their staffs to accommodate the Internet and what readers are expecting," said Charles Wrubel, managing director of AdMedia Partners, an investment bank.

STLtoday.com
November 16, 2006

AdMedia Partners Director Jay Kirsch added: "Public market valuations for media companies are below 10 times EBITDA [earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization], and a few years ago, they were 12 to 13 times. Combine that with large amounts of private equity available and low interest rates, and it's the perfect recipe."

Advertising Age
November 6, 2006

Charles Wrubel, managing director of AdMedia Partners, an investment bank specializing in media properties, said it was unlikely the Times would sell the Globe, which it purchased in 1993 for $1.1 billion.

"The New York Times is not about to give up on New England and the Globe," said Wrubel, who said his firm doesn't consult for New York Times. "It reaches a wonderful, bedrock intellectual reader."

Bloomberg.com
October 31, 2006

"You start hearing, 'I'm in charge of all applications,' and the businesses are too different," said Mark Edmiston, managing director, AdMedia Partners. The brand steward should play a protective rather than entrepreneurial role, he continued. "They shouldn't be telling people what to do, but they should be telling people if is consistent with the brand image."
-Mark M. Edmiston

Mediaweek
October 10, 2006

"Clients are demanding that there be an allocation of online to the budget," says Seth Alpert, managing director of media-investment house AdMedia Partners. For agencies, such demands translate into a mandate to beef up interactive capabilities. "It's not just nice to have it. They have to have it," Alpert says.
-Seth R. Alpert, Managing Director

Online Media Daily
August 14, 2006

WWE's editor, Tony Romando, said that past W.W.E. publications had an intense following, but "were like a zine," fanatically devoted to what happened in the ring, and printed on less-attractive paper stock. In the new magazine (which will carry a pumped up newsstand price of $5.99), rather than simply review "the greatest razors for the season," he said, "we have a wrestler who dresses in drag, why not have him test the razors and serve two masters at the same time?"

Mark Edmiston, managing director of AdMedia Partners, financial advisers to magazines, struck a note of caution. While he said he understood why W.W.E. would want to expand its fan base, "the more they broaden and try to compete with FHM and Maxim the more they are competing with people who are established, and do it really well."
-Mark M. Edmiston

New York Times
July 3, 2006

Seth Alpert, managing director of AdMedia Partners, an investment banking and financial advisory firm, expressed some surprise at the deal, noting IPG's recent financial woes: "It's interesting that they would invest in what is arguably a media company rather than deploying that money in acquisitions to strengthen their core business. I'm a bit surprised because they haven't been an active party on the M&A front."

That said, Alpert agreed: "Of course everybody's interested in how user-generated media are going to become a significant advertising platform. There's a huge audience, and it's very interesting and attractive space."
-Seth R. Alpert, Managing Director

Online Media Daily
June 20, 2006

"Magazines of this type usually are valued in the high single digits to 10 times operating income," said Mark Edmiston, managing director of Admedia Partners, Inc., "a media investment banking advisory firm that is not involved in the American Media titles."
-Mark M. Edmiston

MSN Money - USA
June 14, 2006

"You have to become a content company," says Mark Edmiston, managing director of AdMedia Partners, Inc., a mergers and acquisitions firm. "You can't make money anymore selling ad pages and giving away circulation."
-Mark M. Edmiston

NewYorkBusiness.com
May 30, 2006

World Publications LLC, a travel and luxury-lifestyle publisher, traded financial sponsorship for a strategic partner Monday, May 22, in an estimated $70 million deal that managed to satisfy everybody...

More

The Deal
May 22, 2006

"You used to be able to wait five years for the magazine to make money," said Polly Perkins, business-development director at AdMedia Partners. "Now you've got to say to yourself, 'Is it fair to wait five years when some of those dollars should be spent on interactive platforms for brands that are already profitable?"'
-Polly Perkins Johnson

Advertising Age
April 10, 2006

"American Media needs to boost cash flow to service its debt, so that's why Celebrity Living shut down," said AdMedia Partners' Mark Edmiston. "And with Cargo, there are enough shopping magazines already, and aiming one at men was a bad idea."
-Mark M. Edmiston

New York Post
April 9, 2006

These banks have been allowed to grow up under their hulking counterparts on Wall Street because they set themselves up to handle smaller deals. "Most of the stuff we do, they can't afford to do," [Mark] Edmiston says of bulge-bracket firms, which have maintained a lock on big-media deals involving Hollywood studios, broadcast networks and cross-media hybrids like America Online Inc. and Time Warner Inc.
-Mark M. Edmiston

The Deal
April 6, 2006

"They've got a very tough situation," said Jay Kirsch, a vice president of AdMedia Partners, an investment banking and advisory firm for media companies. "They're fighting two very deep-pocketed companies who are also very established brands. And their niche as a data provider has been taken on by a lot of online sources."

New York Times
February 21, 2006

2005 Deal of the Year
At $35 million, it wasn't anywhere near the year's biggest deal. But the fact that it took only 29 days - from selling decision to binding transaction - Joe Mansueto's acquisition of Inc. and Fast Company was by far the quickest...

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The Deal
February 10, 2006

"Search remains extremely hot as an acquisition category. If anything, demand might be stronger than before because traditional media companies within the larger game are realizing search is an incredibly important part of media," said Seth Alpert, Managing Director of AdMedia Partners in an interview with StepForth, "They have to be planning and buying for clients but don't have internal knowledge or staff to do it."
-Seth R. Alpert, Managing Director

StepForth
February 7, 2006

AdMedia Partners VP Jay Kirsch said, "The all-time-low interest rates of high-yield debt-currently hovering around 8%, compared with 12% in 2002 and 14% in 2000-have helped drive the dizzying pace of b-to-b deals in the past two years. But the rates on high-yield debt will inevitably bounce back making it more problematic for b-to-b publishers and private equity players to borrow money real cheap."

B to B
February 3, 2006

"I think the biggest change we've noted is that there is a strong expectation that there will be a much higher level of activity in categories like interactive, direct and experiential marketing which we have not seen for quite a while," said Abe Jones, managing director at AdMedia.
-Abbott C. Jones

Promo Magazine
February 2, 2006

"It is widely recognized that marketers must look beyond traditional advertising to reach consumers, and right now Internet marketing, experiential marketing and CRM are capturing a sizeable share of both industry budgets and buzz. It follows that deal-making activity will be particularly strong in these sectors," says AdMedia Managing Director Abe Jones.
-Abbott C. Jones

iMedia Connection
February 1, 2006

"A lot of this confirms what we intuitively believe in: It's a very good year," said Seth Alpert, managing director of AdMedia. "In a broad sense, among potential sellers, this is a good time to go to market."
-Seth R. Alpert, Managing Director

DM News
January 30, 2006

AdMedia Managing Director Abe Jones says, of those who identify as prospective buyers, 54 percent expect to complete an acquisition during 2006, up slightly from 51 percent who thought they would do so in 2005. In a more dramatic shift, 42 percent of those who identify as prospective sellers expect to sell all or part of their businesses in 2006, vs. 25 percent who thought they would do so last year.

"It is widely recognized that marketers must look beyond traditional advertising to reach consumers, and right now Internet marketing, experiential marketing, and CRM are capturing a sizeable share of both industry budgets and buzz," said Jones. "It follows that deal-making activity will be particularly strong in these sectors."
-Abbott C. Jones

TMCNet.com
January 30, 2006

AdMedia Managing Director Abe Jones says, of those who identify as prospective buyers, 54 percent expect to complete an acquisition during 2006, up slightly from 51 percent who thought they would do so in 2005. In a more dramatic shift, 42 percent of those who identify as prospective sellers expect to sell all or part of their businesses in 2006, vs. 25 percent who thought they would do so last year.
-Abbott C. Jones

Media Buyer Planner
January 30, 2006

"Demand for digital content was clear in both the survey data and open-ended comments, and we expect to see more acquisitions of cross-media partners by traditional media companies," said Mark Edmiston, managing director. "Down the road, tightening of lending criteria and potential increases in capital gains tax rates could make M&A less attractive, but in 2006 conditions remain favorable."
-Mark M. Edmiston

Advertising Age
January 13, 2006

"I don't know the real reason [why he's stepping down], but it has to be one of three reasons," said Rob Garrett, founder and managing director of media investment banking firm AdMedia Partners. "He wants to move back to California, he doesn't want to be CEO and realizes he's first in class in the venture-capital field, or [IDG Chairman] Pat McGovern doesn't want him to be CEO any longer."

B to B
December 22, 2005

"No longer a sleeper category, we predict business magazines in 2006 should closely match the excitement and buzz generated by celebrity publications in 2005. We have seen, and continue to see, new entrants in the business category with many large business magazines spinning off small business editions, and even high-profile companies entering the mix."
-Robert Garrett

Folio Magazine
December 21, 2005

"Private equity guys are in the business to make money," says Mark Edmiston, managing director of investment bank AdMedia Partners. "They're not issue-driven. And in the course of making money -- presuming it's legal -- any way works. They're asking themselves, 'Are we getting any profit out of this? No? Then let's break it up and do more with this.'"
-Mark M. Edmiston

CNNMoney.com
December 12, 2005

"If you see some future and you can't sell it at a price which pays you at all for that, then you're willing to hang on," said Rob Garrett, founder and managing director, AdMedia Partners. "It's sort of like putting a painting up for auction. You have a reserve price and if the bids don't come in above the reserve price you take it back home." Garrett said that, according to the grapevine, Advanstar had received bids, with Krakoff the first to back out. CBC with Providence Equity and J.P. Morgan "presumably" backing Cam Bishop were also bidding.

Folio:
December 8, 2005

Rob Garrett, managing partner of media merchant bank AdMedia Partners, said the Times' expansion into Canada will likely be a boon to the Times' mainstay marketers. "It'll be great for marketers who wish to target Canada but not a deterrent for those who don't," he said.

B to B
December 6, 2005

"I don't know the real reason [why he's stepping down], but it has to be one of three reasons," said Rob Garrett, founder and managing director of media investment banking firm AdMedia Partners. "He wants to move back to California, he doesn't want to be CEO and realizes he's first in class in the venture-capital field, or [IDG Chairman] Pat McGovern doesn't want him to be CEO any longer."

B to B
November 22, 2005

Add Men's Vogue to the stable of full-time publications at Conde Nast. The Company, a unit of Advance Publications, announced yesterday that its trial issue was successful with both readers and advertisers, and it had decided to swing into full-time production. ...

Despite the enthusiasm at Conde Nast, Mark Edmiston, managing director of AdMedia Partners, financial advisers to magazines, was somewhat skeptical. "Vogue is so associated with women that it may be a problem," he said.
-Mark M. Edmiston

New York Times
October 6, 2005

Mark Edmiston, a managing director at investment bank Admedia Partners, Inc., believes that number could be as few as six inside a decade. Time Inc. and Hearst Magazines will be among the survivors, most likely, as will France's Hachette Filipacchi Medias SA. But the others could be a surprise, especially to veterans of America's shockingly xenophobic magazine business. "The question everyone's asking is how do you grow in a saturated market," Edmiston says of what's driving global consolidation. "The answer is you can't."
-Mark M. Edmiston

The Deal
September 5, 2005

Polly Perkins of AdMedia Partners, the firm that handled the Fast Company and Inc. sales, notes that it, too, was not a typical deal. "It was done very fast," she said. "Most deals can take four to six months. But since Gruner + Jahr was leaving the business in the United States, this deal had to be concluded by June 30, and it was." Even though both magazines face considerable challenges, several big publishing companies - including Time Inc. - were interested in purchasing them.
-Polly Perkins Johnson

The New York Sun
July 6, 2005

Meredith magazines will soon target women through major life stages-from young, active women (Fitness, American Baby) to 50 year olds with families (Family Circle, Ladies' Home Journal). "It makes the company practically a womb-to-tomb women's publishing company," noted Mark Edmiston, managing director for AdMedia Partners.
-Mark M. Edmiston

Mediaweek
May 30, 2005

"The magazine industry is extremely healthy," said Jay Kirsch, vice president of AdMedia Partners, financial advisers to magazines. "The newsweeklies are in tough shape, but the monthlies and lifestyle and enthusiast magazines are doing fabulously."

New York Times
May 2, 2005

Seth Alpert, managing director at media investment bank AdMedia Partners, agreed that the move made sense but said it may pose difficulties for CNET to brand itself as a provider of business information in addition to a provider of technology information.

Alpert also said BNET will need to grow its user base significantly to make a dent in the business information space, where the leading brands, such as BusinessWeek, with 1.6 million monthly unique visitors (according to comScore Media Metrix), attract significantly more traffic. More to the point, BusinessWeek has entered into a deal with TechTarget's Bitpipe to offer its visitors online access to technology white papers.
-Seth R. Alpert, Managing Director

B2B Media
April 1, 2005

Mark Edmiston, managing director of the M&A firm AdMedia Partners and the CEO of Newsweek from 1981 to 1986, says there had to be some degree of cooperation between the top news and business-side ranks for the magazine to have reinvented itself so effectively in the last decade or so, as the whole category has had to reinvent itself. "That, clearly, is where the teamwork came together," Edmiston says. "Time after time, the integrity of the editorial product has been maintained. The troops are not going to get rolled over by some guy out there with a good suit on. There's a comfort level there."
-Mark M. Edmiston

Adweek
March 14, 2005

Before the dot-com bust, Mark Walsh, then CEO of Verticalnet, infamously compared trade publications to "dinosaurs."

"The demise of print media has been perhaps overstated or at least accelerated too much in time," said Robert Garrett, president of media investment bank AdMedia Partners. "[Magazines] will be around."

B to B
March 14, 2005

Philip Palazzo, MD at AdMedia Partners, a financial advisory firm that counsels marketing and media companies, also notes that the past two decades have seen a shift from commission-based compensation to a fee-based system.

But he disagrees that the trend is likely to change because the O&M case was a question of unscrupulous employees, not a reflection of its billing practices.

"You find these types of cases, and they're isolated," he says. "I don't think it's an indictment of the billing system involved."
-Philip A. Palazzo, Jr.

PR Week
February 21, 2005

"This year we will see a lot more agreement on price between buyers and sellers," said Robert Crosland, managing director of media investment bank AdMedia Partners. "After a certain period of time, everybody has adjusted their expectations."
crosland

Media Business
February 14, 2005

"Since [Sept. 11, 2001], advertising in Fortune has started creeping back up, though the 3,405 ad pages in 2004 were lower than the 4,012 pages in 2001 and the 6,259 pages of its peak year, 2000... Still, business magazines are hampered by a lack of technology advertising," said Mark Edmiston, managing director of AdMedia Partners, a financial adviser to magazines.
-Mark M. Edmiston

New York Times
February 8, 2005

Havas could find help elsewhere, as was made apparent in the interest in Grey among private equity firms. "There are tons of private equity investors out there looking for deals in this industry, mostly in specialty areas of marketing communications," says Abe Jones, a principal at investment bankers AdMedia Partners in New York. "They feel they can add value in a number of years and then spin off the company to the public or sell to a larger firm."
-Abbott C. Jones

Adweek
January 3, 2005

In December Mark M. Edmiston, Managing Director, AdMedia Partners, Inc. offered a valuation seminar to more than forty senior magazine publishing executives in Mexico City. His presentation entitled "Maximizing Value�A Strategic Discussion" was intended to present standard US valuation ratios to a market that seems ripe for sale and consolidation.

Edmiston reminded his audience that creating value is a process�sometimes a long one, not an event. Financials, to be sure, are the beginning of the discussion but not the end of it. He reminded attendees that are their assets are not on the balance sheet. He also suggested that globalization is both a threat and opportunity for those interested in increasing the earning value of their assets.

Edmiston's First Rule of value creation is . . .

More

Magazine Publishers of America
December 2004

"Home furnishings advertisers want 40-year-old women who can buy their expensive products," says Polly Perkins, business development director at AdMedia Partners. "More has broken the mold in having a fashion and beauty slant, and that's a tougher category."
-Polly Perkins Johnson

Crain's New York Business
December 20, 2004

A recent survey by media investment bank AdMedia Partners found that potential buyers far outnumber potential sellers in the business media mergers and acquisitions market. Forty-seven business media executives participated in the M&A Snapshot Survey. In the magazine arena, 68% of respondents said they would be buyers in 2005; 22% said they would be inactive; and just 10% said they would be selling a magazine or magazines.

B to B
December 13, 2004

"The new money and expansion plans at Modern Luxury will sharply increase the struggle among publishers for advertisers like Tiffany, Bulgari and Hermés," said Mark M. Edmiston, managing director at AdMedia Partners, an investment banking and financial advisory firm. "I'm not sure you need more than one in any market," Mr. Edmiston said. "Even though these are very expensive products being advertised, the advertising budgets are actually not that big. It is unlikely that an advertiser is going to double his budget to accommodate both magazines in the market." -Mark M. Edmiston

New York Times
November 15, 2004

"Pfingsten is really building up on a different scale than Penton," said Bob Crosland, a managing director of New York investment firm AdMedia Partners, Inc., which focuses on the media and publishing industries. "Their strategy tends to be more opportunistic."

Mr. Crosland of AdMedia Partners said Pfingsten Partners is "one of the better roll-up companies that does media-related investments." He added that he wouldn't be surprised if it's sold within the next year.

"Every fund has a life," Mr. Crosland said. "Seven years is a pretty typical fund life. Pfingsten Partners is really in the business of adding value by combining assets and then turning around and making divestitures."

Crain's Cleveland Business
July 19, 2004

Some industry observers surmise that Ziff Davis' violation [Synapse Group, which operates freebizmag.com, for "improper record-keeping" in conjunction with a subscription program it ran for Ziff Davis Media's PC Magazine] was a little more than a technicality. "The question is: Did it diminish the value of the advertising? Did the subscribers get the magazine and did the advertising get exposure?" said Robert Crosland, managing director of media investment bank AdMedia Partners. "The only issue I see is that somebody didn't hold up their end of the deal. Ziff Davis got jobbed."

B to B
July 19, 2004

"EDA is probably the most significant source of competitive information in the heavy equipment markets like construction and trucking," said Robert Crosland, managing director at media investment bank AdMedia Partners. Crosland was an adviser to EDA when Randall acquired it.

B to B
April 5, 2004

"This was a business recession, not a consumer recession," says Bob Crosland, managing director at media investment bank AdMedia Partners. "Retail has held up relatively well compared with classic, smokestack b-to-b publishers like technology and manufacturing."

Folio:
March 1, 2004

"Given the results of the past few years, would Condé Nast make a bigger commitment to b-to-b? That's unlikely," says AdMedia Partners' Bob Crosland. "They own it and are making money," he says. "But they're not excited enough to want a more significant presence in this arena." On the other hand, Crosland expects to see more b-to-b/consumer hybrids coming out of the division.

Folio:
March 1, 2004

"This was a business recession, not a consumer recession," says Bob Crosland, managing director at media investment bank AdMedia Partners. "Retail has held up relatively well compared with classic, smokestack b-to-b publishers like technology and manufacturing."

Folio:
March 1, 2004

This was supposed to be the year when magazine M&A came roaring back, right? So why does it still feel so much like 2003? Be patient. "There are a lot of deals in the pipeline," says Robert Crosland, managing director at AdMedia Partners. "It's like a very deliberate process of getting them closed these days."

Folio:
March 1, 2004

The move of Chemical Week to PBI Media is a bid, in part, to trim costs. Robert Crosland, managing director of media investment bank AdMedia Partners, said that with two struggling assets, "they really have no need for separate management teams and overhead."

B to B
February 9, 2004

Commenting on the decision to shut down the print edition of Modern Physician, Robert Crosland, managing director of media investment bank AdMedia Partners, said, "It [Modern Physician] is in an overpublished market, and it doesn't have an advantageous position in that market."

B to B
December 4, 2003

It's hunting season, and for the first time since the ad recession sent valuations plummeting, the prey are coming out of hibernation. "The buyers have always been there," says AdMedia Partners managing director Mark Edmiston.
-Mark M. Edmiston

Folio:
November 1, 2003

Between rising costs and falling quality, circulation has emerged as the trickiest issue for publishing management. The cost of acquiring subscribers - and single-copy distribution - continues to rise, but the marginal benefit of getting more readers has fallen. "The pressure on circulation is probably the biggest trend exacerbated by the recession," says Rob Garrett, president of investment bank AdMedia Partners. "Circulation's been harder to keep up. Magazines have cut back on their circulations and their rate bases, cutting back to their core customers."

Folio:
November 1, 2003

"There has been some talk Primedia was simply throwing off pieces as the ship was going down," noted Mark Edmiston, managing partner of AdMedia Partners, an investment banking firm. "But I don't think they would hire Conlin or that he would take the job [if that were the case]. He's a serious guy."
-Mark M. Edmiston

Mediaweek
October 20, 2003

"Creating an agency to service a single client is a model that works in today's marketplace," said Abe Jones, managing director of New York investment banking firm AdMedia Partners. "From a client's point of view, the benefits are accountability and efficiency," he said. "If I concentrate all my business with this unit, then I can get a better value or price for service. And the agency, by having a dedicated unit, can structure it efficiently to service that client."
-Abbott C. Jones

Adweek
October 13, 2003

...the miniscule 0.9% boost in b-to-b ad pages in June 2003 compared with a year earlier was seen as a milestone in some quarters... Others were more guarded about the meaning of the ad increase "That's like the difference in the price of gas being $1.75 instead of $1.78," said Robert Crosland, managing director of media investment bank AdMedia Partners. "Statistically, it's not really meaningful. Where we're going to see increases that might be meaningful is after the new year begins. The January numbers will tell us where we're going."

B to B
September 15, 2003

"I think it's hard to say a $10-40 million account is below the radar [for big shops]," said Abbott Jones, managing director of New York investment banking firm AdMedia Partners. "A large agency like [J. Walter Thompson] would be very happy with a $15 million account."
-Abbott C. Jones

Adweek
September 15, 2003

"Every time somebody buys something and every time somebody sells something, there's a divergence of opinion," said Robert Crosland, managing director of AdMedia Partners, Inc.

B to B
September 15, 2003

"This is a wonderful time to be buying," said Robert Garrett, president of AdMedia Partners, Inc., New York. "Most people feel that they've hit bottom and are bouncing along on the bottom. You're buying in a rising tide."

B to B
September 15, 2003

Working Woman had long been the weak sister in the act and its losses, says a magazine executive who asked not to be named, had scared away a handful of interested buyers in 2001. "Strategically, they focused on a smart niche by investing in Working Mother," says Robert Crosland, managing director at AdMedia Partners. "It's a sensible, renewable business that's got legs - there's an information need there."

Folio:
September 1, 2003

Virtually every other expenditure is predictable and can be budgeted with accuracy, but circulation remains a trial-and-error experience for new magazines, especially those launched outside of the major magazine companies, which have existing mailing lists and access to newsstands. "You can do test mailings, you can do modeling, but you still won't know if the dog is going to eat the dog food," says Bob Crosland, managing partner of AdMedia Partners.

Folio:
August 1, 2003

"There is a lot of pent-up demand, there are people that actually do want to sell their businesses and retire," Crosland said. "There are companies out there who are willing to buy things, but sellers are not confident they will be able to get the price they are seeking."

Electronic Information Report
July 21, 2003

The first quarter was sluggish for magazine M&A activity, and the war and continued economic uncertainty could keep things slow for the rest of the year. "The first issue that has to be dealt with is getting over the war," says Bob Crosland, managing director at AdMedia Partners. "Then people are going to turn their attention back to the state of the economy."

Folio:
May 1, 2003

Technological advances, including the Internet, also make the cost of doing business on a national scale affordable for small-agency operators. The boon to small agencies "could be seen as a silver lining to an otherwise difficult time," said Abbott Jones, managing director, AdMedia Partners, New York.
-Abbott C. Jones

Advertising Age
April 28, 2003

An AdMedia Partners survey, conducted in December 2002 and distributed under hotel doors, reveals a real thirst for some kind of activity: 76% of prospective agency buyers expect to complete an acquisition in 2003 while 27% of prospective sellers expect to sell all or part of their firms this year.

Advertising Age
April 14, 2003

"If American's current foray overseas lasts only as long as the first gulf war - about six weeks - revenue for the agencies ought to hold up as expected," says Abe Jones, a managing director at AdMedia Partners in New York, a boutique investment bank specializing in marketing transactions... Should events prove to be more protracted, he adds, "There will have to be some reviews of the revenue projections."
-Abbott C. Jones

The Wall Street Journal
March 31, 2003

"[The Times Co.'s] avowed strategy is to get rid of the smaller stuff," says Charles Wrubel, managing director at AdMedia Partners, Inc. in New York. Freedom "wouldn't make sense," given the company's publicly stated strategy of expanding the Times national edition and building strong regional clusters, as it has in New England.

Editor & Publisher
March 24, 2003

Mr. Bell's first priority must be, "convincing the institutional investors and analysts that Interpublic has fully evaluated and revealed the issues that have caused the problems," says Abe Jones, managing director at AdMedia Partners, a boutique investment bank specializing in advertising and marketing transactions.
-Abbott C. Jones

The Wall Street Journal
February 28, 2003

Clients in all fields are more aggressively looking to ratchet down their fees. Abe Jones, managing director at AdMedia Partners in New York, a consulting firm, said the public relations business has been particularly vulnerable. "When a client gets proposals from an agency for a new project, cost is getting greater weight than ever before in the decision," he said.
-Abbott C. Jones

The Wall Street Journal
February 26, 2003

Robert Crosland, managing director of investment banking firm AdMedia Partners, which specializes in show management and business media investments, explained that Weisel likely was able to buy Key3's debt at a significant discount, given the latter's weakened financial condition. "Key3Media is essentially being bailed out by its debtor," Crosland said. "Weisel bought all that bank debt and the bonds for the purpose of being able to take over."

Tradeshow Week
February 17, 2003

"Conde Nast wants [Seventeen] and can afford it," said Mark Edmiston, managing director of AdMedia Partners. "Hearst wants it and can afford it. Gruner & Jahr wants it and could afford it. There are any number of interested buyers out there, and they don't have to sell, but it might be a great time to find out what it is worth."
-Mark M. Edmiston

New York Times
February 6, 2003

Will such innovations keep [Fairchild's] business-to-business unit strong? While praising the "smart" strategy and "pretty good" results, Robert Crosland, managing director of AdMedia Partners, a New York-based investment bank, says wait and see. "They've been holding their own quite well, but they're in segments of the economy [retail] that haven't been hurt as badly as everyone else," he says.

Folio:
February 2003

"The kinds of advertising Meredith gets has a broader base," said Mark Edmiston, a former president of Newsweek magazine who now is managing director of AdMedia Partners, a New York-based company that specializes in magazine mergers and acquisitions. "They didn't get the very volatile advertising categories that zoomed up in the 1990s and zoomed back down starting in mid-2000."
-Mark M. Edmiston

Bloomberg News
January 29, 2003

New York media-investment bank AdMedia Partners is taking a harder look at the recent monthly and annual ad-revenue data from the Publishers Information Bureau, a closely watched measure of magazine success. According to AdMedia, while the data appear to show a rise in ad revenue in 2002, in fact "PIB data can be misleading," says Jay Kirsch, an AdMedia vice president. The firm suggests that while ad page volume is looking quite robust, "publishers are not converting those pages into revenue at quite the same level as they have previously."

Dow Jones News Service
January 14, 2003

Last year was characterized by the fact that there were very few mid-sized deals�the kind that Robert Crosland, managing director at investment bank and strategic advisory firm AdMedia Partners, Inc., says are indicative of the health of the industry�"The strategic guys were hunkering down last year and the financial guys were having a tough time finding financing," Crosland told EIR. "The ability to borrow money from banks to get senior debt financing has been very low... That's made it tough for financial buyers to put together attractive offers that would be accepted by sellers."

Electronic Information Report
January 13, 2003

"A new convergence between buyer and seller expectations and a loosening of bank lending requirements will spur more deals, even if the economy doesn't mount a strong recovery," said AdMedia President Robert Garrett. "Sellers no longer expect the inflated prices of the late '90s, and buyers are willing to pay a little more to get value."

B to B
January 13, 2003

After a two-year slump, mergers and acquisitions among U.S. media companies will pick up in 2003, according to a forecast by New York investment banking firm AdMedia Partners. "A new convergence between buyer and seller expectations and a loosening of bank lending requirements will spur more deals, even if the economy doesn't mount a strong recovery," AdMedia President Robert Garrett said. "Sellers no longer expect the inflated prices of the late '90s, and buyers are willing to pay a little more to get value."

B to B
December 12, 2002

"The stuff that's ephemeral is gone - no one's trying to sell [it]," says Edward H. Fitzelle, managing director, AdMedia Partners. "You're not seeing huge companies turning over. That's because people coming from the outside, looking at the industry, get turned off by what's going on here. It's the people in the know that are the buyers now."
-Ed Fitzelle, Managing Director

Folio:
December, 2002

Almost three years after America Online announced its purchase of Time Warner, the divisions within the media giant are finally beginning to work together, sources familiar with the situation say... "It's the first tangible evidence that the Time Warner people who took over AOL are running it as a company, versus warring faction," said Mark Edmiston, managing director of investment banking firm AdMedia Partners.
-Mark M. Edmiston

Reuters Financial Report
November 25, 2002

"Comic-book advertising has come a long way from yesterday's low-production, back-page ads...'All of the sudden, the 'tween' boys, 9-to-12-year-old boys, have been discovered in the past couple of years," said Mark Edmiston, managing director of New York's AdMedia Partners. "Marvel is in the right place at the right time. I don't believe they say this coming."
-Mark M. Edmiston

Washington Post
November 13, 2002

"There's no substitute for huge," said Robert Crosland, managing director of AdMedia Partners, Inc. "Dominance, being big enough to put the fear of God into companies that compete with you, cannot be overestimated."

B to B
November 11, 2002

Some would argue the Playboy philosophy has been played out. "Society has sort of moved on. Sexual freedom, free speech - all these things are now very much enshrined," says Mark Edmiston, managing partner of investment banking firm AdMedia Partners. "It's really not just revitalizing it, it's kin of a redefinition. There's a time when you should take advantage of the change and change with the times. Hugh Hefner never did."
-Mark M. Edmiston

Mediaweek
October 21, 2002

On Oct. 14, D'Arcy's new parent Publicis Groupe announced plans to shutter the network and mover its accounts to other Publicis units. "It is a classic business case of evaluating a company's value," said Abe Jones, managing director of investment-bank boutique AdMedia Partners. "Is it worth more as a break-up opportunity or as a whole?"
-Abbott C. Jones

Advertising Age
October 21, 2002

"One reason for the slow rate of [M&A] activity is the lower cash flow against a perception of lower multiples," says Robert Crosland, managing director, AdMedia Partners.

Folio: First Day
October 7, 2002

"The possible range of a transaction is always constrained by two realities," says Robert Crosland III, a managing director at AdMedia Partners, a New York investment banking firm. "On the lower-end deals, it's a question of how much the acquirer is going to be able to borrow from the bank... Meanwhile for high-end deals, it's a question of what publicly traded companies are going for. That level has also gone down in recent years. So the result has been lower price multiples."

Folio:
October, 2002

"Deals aren't closing, but there's business, which hasn't happened in a long time," says Mark Edmiston, managing director at AdMedia Partners. "People are accepting that it's a flat environment. Those who were holding out for better times are realizing that's not going to happen in the short term, so they're considering their options."
-Mark M. Edmiston

Folio:
October, 2002

The pace of PR agency mergers and acquisitions slowed significantly last year, and for 2002, Abe Jones managing director at investment bank AdMedia Partners, says deals are fewer in number, smaller in size and major holding companies are the buyers in most cases.
-Abbott C. Jones

Advertising Age
September 30, 2002

"[Luxury titles] are competing for scarce resources," said Bob Crosland, managing director at AdMedia Partners, a New York investment bank that specializes in media and advertising. "Ultimately they'll fight it out, and there will be a survivor. There will be one publication that's favored. Advertising will migrate over time, and the other will be a speck of dust in people's memories."

San Francisco Chronicle
September 18, 2002

"You are still seeing [sellers] coming off what was essentially a bubble," adds Mark Edmiston, managing director of AdMedia Partners, an investment banking firm. "They are still remembering the great prices of a couple of years ago and are reluctant to sell."
-Mark M. Edmiston

Mediaweek
September 16, 2002

Venerable Penton Media Inc., publisher of New Equipment Digest and Internet World, faces the prospect of having its stock delisted by the New York Stock Exchange... "I'm sure they're looking into every option there is to prevent [delisting] from happening," said Robert Crosland, managing director of New York investment bank AdMedia Partners, Inc. "It's something they want to avoid simply because it makes it really tough to move the share price when you're delisted."

B to B
September 9, 2002

PR merger and acquisition activity 'hit the wall' following 9/11, but Abe Jones, founder of AdMedia Partners, said he is experiencing a pickup in inquiries, and requests for valuation work from principals at firms. "They are looking for an exit strategy. They want to know when to sell, for how much and to whom," said Jones.
-Abbott C. Jones

O'Dwyers PR Services Report
September 2002

"To G+J, this is a business, and they're out to turn a profit," says Robert Crosland, managing director, AdMedia Partners, a New York-based investment banking firm. "Dan Brewster and all of his people who work on the magazine are publishing professionals. To Rosie, it's not a vocation, it's an avocation. It's not something she depends upon for her livelihood. You can't just turn over the reins to someone coming from outside the marketplace."

Folio:
September 2002

"Oprah and Martha both have clear philosophies that are embodied in their magazines," says Mark Edmiston of AdMedia Partners, a media-focused investment bank. "With Rosie, there just appears to be an opinion."
-Mark M. Edmiston

The Deal
August 20, 2002

Despite the moves undertaken by Ziff Davis, its debt remains formidable. The company has cut its staff and shuttered several publications, including Interactive Week. "They've pretty much eliminated all the products that were marginal," said Robert Crosland, managing director of AdMedia Partners. "They've done everything that you can do."

B to B
August 12, 2002

Bob Crosland, managing director of AdMedia Partners, a New York-based investment banking firm specializing in media, advertising and marketing, takes the long view: "The reason we call them 'business cycles' is that, by definition, the top of the market is always excessive and the bottom is always excessive." Crosland says the media business hit tops in decade-long cycles in 1979, 1989 and 1999.

B to B
August 12, 2002

"[Ziff Davis' financial trouble] is another hangover from the Internet environment," said Mark Edmiston, managing director of AdMedia Partners, a New York investment banking boutique. "They bet the market would grow, and it shrank dramatically - it became untenable and they need to restructure their debt."
-Mark M. Edmiston

Chicago Tribune
August 1, 2002

If the 10% gain [in ad revenue] is true, says Robert Crosland, managing director at AdMedia Partners, Time Inc. should feel terrific. "That's a remarkable performance. There's not many people out there who are getting double-digit growth. That makes them a star."

Folio:
August 2002

PR merger and acquisition activity 'hit the wall' following 9/11, but Abe Jones, founder of AdMedia Partners, said he is experiencing a pickup in inquiries, and requests for valuation work from principals at firms. "They are looking for an exit strategy. They want to know when to sell, for how much and to whom," said Jones.
-Abbott C. Jones

O'Dwyers PR Daily
July 18, 2002

"I think [the revamped weekly Variety] raises a real question about the entire issue of frequency in the business press," said Robert Crosland, managing director of AdMedia Partners, Inc., a New York-based media investment bank. "Where timely delivery was of the essence, weekly frequency became something the industry demanded and expected and received. Now, you can have perpetual delivery, so you get it when it's hot."

B to B
July 15, 2002

Corry Publishing's acquisition [of VerticalNet's Small and Medium Business Group] has left some industry observers scratching their heads. "It's hard to make sense of it," said Seth Alpert, managing director of AdMedia Partners, Inc., an investment banking firm specializing in publishing and interactive industries.
-Seth R. Alpert, Managing Director

B to B
July 15, 2002

Brokers expect activity to pick up in the second half - or next year - following improved advertising trends. "I think it's going to be a little bit more active than it has been," said Charles Wrubel, managing director of AdMedia Partners, Inc., an investment bank specializing in media. "We are busier than we were six months ago. I see that continuing for the rest of the year."

Editor & Publisher
July 1, 2002

According to an AdMedia Partners, Inc. survey, media executives anticipate that the M&A marketplace for the sector will tick back up. "We were surprised by the level of optimism among media executives," said AdMedia managing director Edward Fitzelle, given that this survey was conducted around early January... While the survey showed the media executives expect to see M&A activity increase across the board, including the newspaper, magazine and book segments, they did not anticipate many couplings between traditional and interactive media.
-Ed Fitzelle, Managing Director

Mergers & Acquisitions Report
July 1, 2002

"Dominate the market - that's the name of the game," said Charles Wrubel, managing director at AdMedia Partners, a New York consulting and investment banking firm that specializes in media properties. Toward that end, [newspaper] players are sizing up a flurry of changes that have surfaced this spring, looking for their next moves.

Chicago Tribune
June 16, 2002

"Typically, successful magazines make a pretax profit of 12 percent to 15 percent per year," said magazine analyst Mark Edmiston, managing director of AdMedia Partners, a New York investment banking firm. Political journals have different aspirations. "They serve for keeping your name before the public and in gaining influence," Edmiston said.
-Mark M. Edmiston

Washington Post
June 11, 2002

Visiting a newspaper web site may give you news, but don't expect to be exhorted to subscribe or place an ad. The investment bank AdMedia Partners, Inc. of New York prompted a random review of publishers' web sites when it released a survey saying that "as a group, newspapers trailed other media in generating Internet revenues and profits." Just 37 percent of newspaper companies said the expected web-generated profits this year, the survey said, compared to 46 percent of all media companies that responded.

NewsInc.
June 3, 2002

"Even before the AOL deal, Time Warner stock was never as high as it was separately before Time and Warner merged in 1989," said Mark Edmiston, managing director of AdMedia Partners, a New York investment banking firm. "In my personal opinion, synergy doesn't seem to work."
-Mark M. Edmiston

Washington Post
May 14, 2002

Media executives increasingly believe the investment in their new-media businesses soon will be returned with interest - but fewer are pouring money into them - according to the latest in a series of annual surveys by New York media investment bank AdMedia Partners, Inc. Overall, 46% of the executives surveyed expect their new-media businesses to make a profit in the current years, significantly more than the 41% who had such expectations last year.

Editor & Publisher
April 29, 2002

Robert Garrett, president of AdMedia Partners noted that 85% of magazine executives predict ad spending will bounce back before the end of 2002. Given the high hopes for ad spending, observed Garrett, it is not surprising the majority of respondents also expect the M&A marketplace for both consumer magazines and b2b publications to pick up.

MagazineWorld
April 5, 2002

"Media prices have declined with the economy as a whole," said Rob Garrett, president of AdMedia. Benchmark multiples for consumer and b-to-b magazines are down to 5-to-8 times cash flow vs. 8-to-12 times for consumer and 7-to-10 times for b-to-b in 2001.

Folio: First Day
April 3, 2002

"We may well see fairly brisk [M&A] activity as buyers seek bargain merchandise in advance of the economic recovery and companies that grew too big during the boom years seek to unload underperformers or properties that don't fit with their strategy," AdMedia Partners' President Robert Garrett said.

Reuters Financial Report
April 1, 2002

A survey by investment banking firm AdMedia Partners has found that most senior advertising executives predict mergers and acquisitions in media will slow down. Of the 900 executives surveyed, 80% believed sellers will wait until the advertising downturn is over before selling their company.

Mediaweek
March 29, 2002

Going public, "simply wouldn't have assured [Bcom3] of the return that they could get from Publicis right now," says Abbott C. Jones, managing director at AdMedia Partners, Inc., a New York investment banking boutique that specializes in advertising and media companies.
-Abbott C. Jones

Crain's Chicago Business
March 11, 2002

Mark Edmiston, a managing partner with AdMedia Partners, a New York media-investment boutique, said he heard about Goldman's effort [to create a magazine unit] on Thursday. "What I had heard is that they had done it... There is an agreement to put the money together and they're in the process of trying to find someone, a manager, to lead the group."
-Mark M. Edmiston

Dow Jones News Service
February 19, 2002

"Debt is a four-letter word," said Robert Crosland, managing director of AdMedia Partners, a New York-based investment bank... "When a company's cash flow goes down, the ratio of leverage goes up. It's not that the debt has changed; the ability to service the debt has changed."

B to B
February 11, 2002

"Publishing is still a cottage industry in the U.S.," says Mark Edmiston, managing director of the investment bank AdMedia Partners. "In comparison with other countries, and even with other media, the magazine business is still small and parochial. Americans still see many growth opportunities stateside. They have little facility for foreign languages, and they're uncomfortable with foreign cultures."
-Mark M. Edmiston

Folio:
2002 SourceBook

"Practically not one is making money [on the Web]," says Rob Garrett, president of AdMedia Partners. The situation forces investors to look elsewhere for signs of a site's viability - usually, Garrett says, at how much its audience is growing and how long they're staying. But there is some disagreement even there, along with a general confusion over what success on the Web means in the first place.

Folio:
2002 SourceBook

Abbott C. Jones, founder of AdMedia Partners in New York, said Mr. Allison had the good luck to be able to start his business with a minimum of financial risk. "[Public relations] is a professional service industry with no fixed assets," Mr. Jones said. "You are largely talking about the talents of a few individuals."
-Abbott C. Jones

New York Times
January 27, 2002

"There will certainly be instances of debt restructuring," says AdMedia Partners managing director Robert Crosland. "Clearly, there will be some assets sold in order to raise capital, and we'll see some of the other companies selling strategically, or bringing in new equity, doing some major restructuring."

Folio:
January 17, 2002

Bob Huntington, managing director of AdMedia Partners, said: "There have been several attempts to put together a [b-to-b agency] roll-up, which is what [3i] sounds like, and none of them have been successful to my knowledge."

B to B
January 14, 2002

"Continuing to invest in a down market pays substantial dividends as the economy turns around," says Mark Edmiston, managing director, AdMedia Partners, who was a top executive at Times Mirror Magazines during the last ad downturn. "Trying to save yourself out of a recession limits your ability to gain share in the future."
-Mark M. Edmiston

Folio:
December 15, 2001

Even if the IPO market recovers and the ad business rebounds from its current rout, Leo Burnett's parent might not be as attractive to investors as other agencies whose shares are already held by the public. Notes Abbott Jones, a managing director at AdMedia Partners, a New York firm specializing in transactions involving agencies and media companies: "They are making progress, but they are not there yet."
-Abbott C. Jones

The Wall Street Journal
November 23, 2001

Brokered by media investment bank AdMedia Partners, Inc., the Harris Infosource buy bolsters D&B's sales and marketing reach in the U.S. manufacturing/non-manufacturing database marketplace, according to AdMedia managing director Ed Fitzelle. With the B2B M&A market facing September 11 attacks that chilled an already cool economy, Fitzelle stresses deals will soon return to pre-WTC levels in the coming months. "Even with the world unraveling when you have good businesses and good buyers, deals are still going to happen," he claims.
-Ed Fitzelle, Managing Director

B to B
October 22, 2001

Making the odds longer [for magazine launches] is the growing reticence of venture capitalists and other sources of private equity. "If you're profitable there's money out there. If you're in the start-up phase, there's no money out there," says Mark Edmiston, managing director of AdMedia Partners and a former veteran Newsweek executive. "You'd have to finance it yourself in that case."
-Mark M. Edmiston

Advertising Age
October 22, 2001

Consumer magazines, says Mark Edmiston, managing director of AdMedia Partners, have average margins in the 12% to 15% range. Newspapers double this, radio tops newspapers, and local TV stations hit the forties. (Broadcast networks, Mr. Edmiston says, have fallen far from 10% to 15% margins pre-cable: "Now it's hard for them to make money.")
-Mark M. Edmiston

Advertising Age
October 22, 2001

Upon learning which [Primedia] magazines were now up for sale, the bankers for prospective buyers didn't seem too impressed. "It's a pretty small step... To sell something so inconsequential is irrelevant," says Robert Crosland, a managing director of investment banking firm AdMedia Partners. "Primedia needs to take some purposeful action. They're really in between a rock and a hard place in this market."

Folio: First Day
October 8, 2001

"The agency business is full of raw deals," said Abe Jones, an industry analyst with AdMedia Partners in New York. "Foote Cone had been in an unstable environment for a long time. True North," he added, "was going through endless negotiations with various suitors and it's hard to keep clients universally happy."
-Abbott C. Jones

Advertising Age
October 1, 2001

[Mademoiselle's] flawed editorial voice is only partly responsible for the magazine's positioning or lack thereof. As Ed Fitzelle, managing director with AdMedia Partners, Inc. in New York, said, "The key to women's lifestyle magazines is the position carved out in the reader market."
-Ed Fitzelle, Managing Director

The Deal
October 1, 2001

"In one sense, the holding companies are now virtually all headquartered in New York, so the financial power is even more concentrated among holding companies in New York and overseas."
-Abbott C. Jones

Advertising Age
September 10, 2001

"As for H&S [Media Inc.], it's difficult to say what those people will do now, but those magazines are worthwhile assets and with good financing, someone could make that a successful business again. It was the company that failed, not the magazines."
-Mark M. Edmiston

Folio: First Day
September 5, 2001

"Advertisers are just not buying into the fully-integrated idea to the degree everyone had hoped. A number of advertisers have found it doesn't work in reality."

-Abbott C. Jones
Delaney Report
September 3, 2001

Continuing-ed providers, corporate trainers and test-prep companies have confidence in their prospects for growth, but for-profit higher-ed providers are less sure. In a survey conducted recently by AdMedia Partners, about half the respondents in the first three categories said they expect the education industry to grow by 30 percent or more per year over the next three years.

University Business
September 2001

"[This media recession] is astoundingly like 10 years ago. This is worse because the dropoff is more dramatic."
-Mark M. Edmiston

Advertising Age
August 20, 2001

"Government accounts are notorious for their peculiar accounting practices. What I've been told by people who are involved is that there are lots of landmines that can go off if you're not knowledgeable about their accounting and billing practices."
-Abbott C. Jones

Advertising Age
August 20, 2001

"At Petersen, there was a whole lot of fat they could take out and immediately juice up the earnings. Ziff Davis was really a much better-run company when Jim [Dunning] took over, so it's not been as easy."
-Mark M. Edmiston

Mediaweek
July 30, 2001

"Clearly the advertising economy is in its worst period since the early '90s. A number of people were added to agency staff to handle the rush of new business in 1999 and 2000, and many of those are now being laid off due to the downturn."
-Abbott C. Jones

Advertising Age
July 30, 2001

"While some of the biggest companies in the [education/training] field have made acquisitions in recent years, we can expect to see many more transactions involving firms of all sizes. Most are bullish about growth prospects for their market segments overall as well as their individual businesses. Even more important, they recognize that they have to take strategic action to attain their growth."
-Ed Fitzelle, Managing Director

The Heller Reports' EdNet Week Headlines
July 13, 2001

"People do believe there will be a recovery. It's not like the early eighties, where it was flat for years."
-Mark M. Edmiston
July 2, 2001

"The more direct-sold subscriptions you have, and the fewer agency-sold subscriptions you have, the higher the quality. If you have mostly Publishers Clearinghouse orders, the value is low."
-Mark M. Edmiston

Folio:
June 15, 2001

"A year ago [financial players] could borrow five times cashflow. These days you're lucky if you can get three."
-Robert Crosland

Folio:
June 15, 2001

According to a recent study conducted by AdMedia Partners, Inc., a New York-based media investment banking firm, a majority of respondents still expect an increase in merger and acquisition activity between traditional media companies and interactive firm, despite the growing number of dot-com failures

B to B
June 11, 2001

"[Emap has] a strong publication in FHM. It's a strategy that will keep them small in the U.S., as is Dennis Publishing, but it will be much more profitable."
-Mark M. Edmiston

Folio:
June 4, 2001

A recent survey by AdMedia Partners, Inc. of New York City maintains that this year's pace of media mergers and acquisitions will match that of 2000 -- which was down from the torrid pace of 1999. Most of the 130 media executives who responded predicted an increase in deals for interactive media and information publishing. Activity was expected to decrease or stay the same for books, broadcasters, business-to-business publications, consumer magazines, exhibitions and trade shows, newspapers and professional publications.

Presstime
June 2001

"There is not last year's pandemonium [but] we don't see a recession and expect M&A activity to be brisk."

B to B
May 28, 2001

Marketing services shops are also holding their value better than ad agencies, according to an ad market survey by investment banker AdMedia Partners. It predicts marketing services agencies will sell for 6 to 7 times operating profits this year, compared to ad agencies at 5.5 to 6 times operating profits. The survey also found 65% of survey respondents planned to buy into marketing services in 2001, highest of any agency specialty.

Advertising Age
May 21, 2001

"The best holding companies never lose sight of the fact that their business is built on giving clients strong creative ideas to solve their business problems."
-Abbott C. Jones

Investor's Business Daily
May 8, 2001

"This is cyclical and we're going to see certain categories of advertising come back to more realistic levels. In 1999 and 2000, we were roaring along at 7% to 8% growth, and now we're going back to 2% growth, which people were happy about through most of the 1990s."
-Ed Fitzelle, Managing Director

Advertising Age
May 7, 2001

"Merging two disasters equals one bigger disaster."
-Seth R. Alpert, Managing Director

Advertising Age
May 7, 2001

The economic slowdown will have a sharp effect on merger and acquisition activity among agencies, according to a survey by New York investment bank AdMedia Partners. Advertising and marketing executives expect to make more acquisitions in 2001 at lower prices, as their agencies struggle with reduced revenue and profits, but they expect initial public offerings to decline in this down market.

Dallas Morning News
May 3, 2001

"People are pulling in their horns right now and not doing anything. They're waiting to see good news before becoming expansive."
-Ed Fitzelle, Managing Director

Folio:
May 2001

AdMedia's forecasts also cut the expected pricing of acquisitions this year. The average price paid for advertising agencies will drop to 5.5 to 6 times profits, from 6.5 times profits in 2000; marketing services firms will go for a range of 6 to 7 times operating profits, instead of 7 times profits.

AdAge Daily Fax
April 25, 2001

"[Emap overpaid for the properties] and that affected its whole operation. Emap was trying to find a way to make it work, and so it was not really looking at building the company long-term; it was trying to figure out how to finance it, basically."
-Mark M. Edmiston

Mediaweek
April 23, 2001

"[Layoffs at advertising giants result from] the pressure they're under to perform in public markets, the pressure the boards of directors put on the CEOs. That pressure gets pushed to agencies and everybody else."
-Abbott C. Jones

Advertising Age
April 23, 2001

"If the Internet is going to be something that's going to make money, you've got to sell something with real value. Content on the Web - that's where it's heading."
-Ed Fitzelle, Managing Director

Folio: First Day
April 4, 2001

"The fact that stock prices are down only has made it easier for deals to be done on favorable terms. If you're investing in the future, it's a good time to act. Everybody in the ad business knows it will eventually bounce back."
-Abbott C. Jones

The Wall Street Journal
March 21, 2001

"Whereas a lot of these [large holding] companies were incubators back then [for interactive shops] I don't think they'll be willing to do that now."
-Abbott C. Jones

Advertising Age
March 19, 2001

"Our view is the agencies are taking their share of the pounding [in the stock market], but the bigger ones aren't high risk."
-Abbott C. Jones

The Wall Street Journal
March 15, 2001

"There's been an acknowledgment [by Future Network plc] that the risk-return balance was too heavily weighted to the risk. They have some problems, but I don't think anyone beyond the top ranks has a clue as to what's going to happen."
-Robert Crosland

Investment News
March 12, 2001

"As one would expect, the changed market conditions have made it significantly more difficult for private Internet services companies to go public. For most owners of Internet services businesses the best avenue for achieving near term liquidity is what it always has been: selling the company."
-Seth R. Alpert, Managing Director

The Internet Business Journal
March 2001

"The [teen category] market is still strong, but the increased competition will require each of the participants to pay a lot of attention to what's going on, or they will lose market share very quickly."
-Mark M. Edmiston

Mediaweek
February 19, 2001

"Prices are not going up any further. Current negotiations are more about how much of the deal is contingent on a company's success rate over time."
-Abbott C. Jones

PR Week
February 19, 2001

"You have to get bigger, and you have to have the diversification that new media allows. You need to control a lot of geography."
Charles I. Wrubel

Editor & Publisher
January 22, 2001

"[This year] will be a much slower year than we've experienced in probably five to six years. The economy is slowing down very abruptly - though a lot depends on when the Fed takes action."
-Mark M. Edmiston

Advertising Age
January 1, 2001

"We'll probably see a lot of deals that fill in the portfolios of the integrated media companies. To build their spheres of influence, companies will look for strategic assets that complement what they already own. But a lot of significant companies changing hands in 2000 lessens the chance that they will move again any time soon."
-Robert Crosland

Expo
January 2001

"It's a significant era for the consolidation of the ad agency business, and it isn't over yet."
-Abbott C. Jones

The Wall Street Journal
December 22, 2000

"I think quality wins out. But if you're fighting a global consolidation, it may not be enough."
-Abbott C. Jones

Crain's New York Business
December 11-17, 2000

"Obviously [the reorganization at Cahners] is a structure Marc Teren has given a great deal of thought to and feels comfortable managing. I don't think an outsider can understand a reorganization the way a CEO understands it."
-Robert Crosland

Folio: First Day
November 22, 2000

"The combined companies must look at each market they're in and say, 'Does this travel well?' "
-Robert Crosland

B to B
November 20, 2000

"Only a large, well-capitalized company can do this [True North] deal. IPG only has two ad networks after it folded Lowe together with Lintas. Havas now has Arnold and Euro RSCG, but they could use a third network."
-Abbott C. Jones

Advertising Age
November 13, 2000

"The reality is that the PR category is pretty well picked over at the mega-level. The ones that are left [to buy] are the relatively newer agencies that are specialized. What's driving it is the same thing that has driven the ad business: a desire to be part of a large public holding company in order to take advantage of the strong growth rates and high margins in the public relations industry."
-Abbott C. Jones

Adweek
October 16, 2000

"If it is a matter of using [Times Mirror Magazine Group] as a major opportunity to increase standing in the U.S. market, then Gruner & Jahr, Emap, and Hachette are the three companies facing a major opportunity to add a couple hundred plus in revenues. They would be a financial fit, as opposed to an editorial fit. Emap has said very clearly that they plan to double their presence in the U.S. And Dan Brewster has said he plans to increase his posture in the U.S."

Folio: First Day
August 30, 2000

"For many brands, direct marketing and promotion and event planning are even more important to retaining customers and building relationships with customers than just ads."
-Abbott C. Jones

The Wall Street Journal
August 7, 2000

"Gannett is in heavy acquisition mode. They've got the currency, the stock is valued at a high enough price that they can afford to do this, and they're trying to grow as rapidly as they can."

Mediaweek
July 3, 2000

"82% of newspaper executives would encourage prospective sellers to act now. This is evidence that many believe prices have peaked and sellers shouldn't miss the opportunity."
Charles I. Wrubel

Editor & Publisher
July 17, 2000

"In the current M&A market where dollars chase deals, custom publishers are being added to the shopping lists of hungry acquirers."
-Ed Fitzelle, Managing Director

Folio:
July 15, 2000

"Many of us speculated that [Tribune Company would explore selling Times Mirror Magazines], although you can never be sure. The question was whether the Tribune people would decide they wanted to get into a whole new business and create the synergies needed between the divisions, or not."

Folio: First Day
June 28, 2000

"Banks are actively hawking money but making it less enticing at the same time [by making it more expensive to borrow]."

Folio: First Day
June 5, 2000

"The world has been strangely silent since Miller Freeman announced it would be auctioned. Either the serious players are playing it close to the vest, or there aren't any serious players out there."
-Robert Crosland

Folio:
June 2000

"A leading investment banking firm specializing in advertising and marketing deals is predicting more major transactions to come like the acquisition of Young & Rubicam by the WPP Group. AdMedia Partners, Inc. in New York is distributing copies of its sixth annual survey on Madison Avenue deals."

New York Times
May 30, 2000

"The only thing that matters [for holding companies] is whether a transaction will enhance shareholder value."
-Abbott C. Jones

The Wall Street Journal
May 15, 2000

"Many of us have felt that the decision by WPP to back off [Y&R] was temporary and not permanent. It's consistent with Martin Sorrell's attitude, which is if he wants something, he'll be very forceful in trying to buy it."
-Abbott C. Jones

Reuters Financial Report
May 5, 2000

"San Francisco, Los Angeles and even Seattle are very hot markets. There would be more activity if there were more agencies to buy."
-Abbott C. Jones

Advertising Age
March 27, 2000

"It seems pretty clear that Tribune Co. didn't buy a bunch of magazines and get some newspapers with them. So far, everything they've said indicates the magazines are not part of their strategic plan."
-Mark M. Edmiston

Advertising Age
March 20, 2000

"If you read [Thomson's] annual reports, you can reach the conclusion that what they're trying to accomplish long-term is in other multimedia products than newspapers."

Mediaweek
February 21, 2000

"Public companies love scale. I think they recognize there's no high growth in small revenue streams."
-Robert Crosland

Business Marketing
February 2000