Spooked by a volatile stock market, tightened credit markets, continued corporate profit shortfalls and an ongoing economic slump, media mergers and acquisitions have been put into a holding pattern of sorts as the industry watches to see whether the downturn is long or short term.
First-quarter M&A results for this year, tracked by investment bank Whitestone Communications, showed that the number of deals held steady, compared with first quarter 2000, but the overall value of the deals exceeded the same period of last year.
Baran Rosen, Whitestone's president, predicts that if the economy does not rebound soon, bigger companies will hold on to their properties, slowing M&A while some smaller publishers, unable to withstand an economic decline, will have to sell below market values.
This is an excerpt from an article by Cindy Gills from Folio; May 2001
