Selling small.

In Los Angeles last week, Reed Elsevier Group plc decided to sell small, and Canon Communications agreed to buy.

Los Angeles-based Canon announced an agreement in principle to purchase eight trade shows and one magazine from Reed Elsevier. All the properties deal with U.S. advanced technology-based manufacturing.

The sale signals a strategic shift for both companies. Canon was acquired last year by Apprise Media LLC, a holding company controlled by Charles McCurdy, who now serves as Canon's chief executive. McCurdy was cofounder of Primedia, the fill-every-niche publisher best known in Los Angeles for buying the Petersen magazines.

With Canon, McCurdy has started once again to assemble a collage of small, unrelated pieces. Besides Canon's 16 magazines and related Web sites and events--mostly about engineering and medical tech--McCurdy has acquired Beckett Media, which owns magazines for card and memorabilia collectors, and Action Pursuit Group, which publishes for the automotive aftermarket.

Now add the Reed Elsevier properties. The trade shows include Assembly Technology Expo, National Manufacturing Week, International Powder & Bulk Solids, Quality Expo, and NEPCON East/Assembly East. The sole magazine is Powder/Bulk Solids, a complement to the show of the same name.

The Apprise portfolio now stretches from the auto enthusiast to higher technology. While each individual outlet functions in its sphere, it's hard to see how accumulating these disparate pieces adds any value. Worse, it bears an eerie resemblance to the Primedia experience. After an acquisition binge in the 1990s, the company has reversed direction and sold properties (Seventeen, New York, About.com) while it seeks profits and a new identity. The stock, which traded in the high $20s and reached $33.50 in 2000, now hovers slightly below $2.

For Reed Elsevier, publisher of Daily Variety and owner of Nexis/Lexis, the sale represents a move toward the consumer side of media. "The company's Reed Exhibitions unit will increase its focus on the home enhancement, security, luxury and lifestyle, and life science/healthcare sectors where it already manages a portfolio of market leading events," according to a statement on the transaction from Canon.

Reed Elsevier still owns hundreds of trade shows, so the exchange means more to Canon than Reed Elsevier. But in terms of strategic thinking, Reed Elsevier has moved to align its assets while Apprise has merely collected them. At this turn of the river, selling looks smarter than buying--especially when it's selling small to focus on a discernable strategy.