Jordan, Edmiston reports steep decline in 2001 M&A activity.

The total number of mergers and acquisitions for ten categories of print, in-person and online media industry companies in 2001 fell 62.1% in dollar value when compared to 2000, according to Jordan, Edmiston Group, Inc. (JEGI; New York). In a year-end client briefing released this month, JEGI recorded 407 deals valued at $18.552 billion in 2001, down substantially from the 460 deals valued at $48.944 billion reported in 2000.

JEGI reported 45 deals valued at $1.505 billion in the Business-to-Business category compared to 42 deals worth $2.072 billion in 2000. The Vivendi Universal sale for $1.2 billion accounted for 76% of the 2001 total with no other deal topping $100 million. The number of deals in the Newsletter category fell from 31 to 20 with the dollar value decreasing 70% to $108.3 million in 2001 from $360.2 million in 2000.

Six of the eight other categories, including Conferences and Trade Shows (-1.6%), Database Information Services (-70.1%), Internet Online Media (-86%), Newspaper Publishing (-94.4%), Consumer Books (-80.2%), and Educational and Professional Publishing (-66%), showed a decline in the value of transactions for the year. The Consumer Magazine category showed a decline in the number of deals but an increase in their dollar value, going to 38 deals worth $3.962 billion (+69.4%). The Directory & Reference sector had 21 deals worth $1.049 billion in 2000 compared to 26 deals valued at $5.143 billion (+390.1%) in 2000.

JEGI said a major factor in the decline in M&A activity in the second half of the year was the number of sellers waiting for better earnings and valuations. As performance improves in 2002, JEGI expects M&A activity to increase.