As you may have heard, yesterday Reed Elsevier announced they were selling off RBI, the b2b publishing end of their operation, including Variety, Broadcasting and Cable, and, yes, Publishers Weekly, the home of this very blog. The reason given was that the cycle-driven profit structure of magazines supported by advertising didn’t fit in with the Dutch parent company’s business plans. Lots of scuttlebutt going around, but whoever wants the whole caboodle will need a spare $2-2.4 billion, which could take a while–or no time at all. Certainly Variety alone could have a number of suitors.
We really have no idea what any of this means but we’ll keep on blogging until they tell us to stop. One bit of fall-out that is known: the Reed Exhibitions group that puts together the BEA, New York Comic-Con and New York Anime Fest will not be sold off, so that’s one less conflict of interest on our plate.
Meanwhile, Reed Elsevier is spending $4 billion (cash) to acquire another company to merge with its Lexis Nexis division.
I used to work for a Reed Elsevier division, but I never saw that kind of money!
“the Reed Exhibitions group that puts together the BEA, New York Comic-Con and New York Anime Fest will not be sold off, so that’s one less conflict of interest on our plate.”
Let the games begin!
hang on…i got it here somewhere. maybe under the front seat of the car. just a few more quarters and i will have 4.7 dollars.
hang in there to you heidi and calvin, and the rest of the family. mergers and acquisitions are just another part of the day.
but when you hear management use the word ’synergies’ take what ever isnt nailed down!
maybe it’s time to work on singing those Zepplin cover tunes.
Best of luck and wishes to you.