JEGI Report: M&A Up in B-to-B, Down in Consumer and Events

The number of deals in b-to-b media soared 200 percent to 33 through the first three quarters of 2010, according to an M&A report from investment bank The Jordan Edmiston Group. Deal value on the b-to-b side grew to $470 million. However, until recently, the b-to-b market has been dominated by distressed sales such as the sell-off of RBI and Nielsen Business Media properties.

In contrast, the number of deals within the "B-to-B Online Media & Technology" category numbered 49 (worth $1.5 billion), up from 30 deals worth $326 million in the first three quarters of 2009. Included in that category is AOL's acquisition of blog network Tech Crunch. The "Business-to-Consumer Online Media & Technology" area was the most active, with 183 transactions worth $6 billion. However, this category saw no $1 billion + deals, and overall deal volume was flat compared to the first three quarters of 2009 ($5.8 billion).

The number of deals on the consumer magazine side shrank 39 percent to 19, valued at $131 million, including Sidney Harman's acquisition of Newsweek and Kalmbach Publishing buying Discover Magazine.

The exhibitions and conferences category saw the number of deals fall from 29 (worth $140 million) to 18 (worth $109 million) and were dominated by one-offs, such as UBM buying the Shanghai International Children-Baby-maternity Products Expo, the Route Development Group (aviation route development and network planning events), and Astound (Milicruit and Unicruit virtual career fairs).

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