Media & Events Deals Heating Up. But They’re Still Only Lukewarm

Dealmaking has been heating up in the media and events spaces this year.

Some examples just in the past few weeks: Easyfairs recently bought Digital Accountancy Show, Yes Energy acquired RTO Insider, the Financial Times Group announced the acquisition of Invisso and Emerald Expositions snagged Plant Based World.

There had been hope that in 2025, with inflation easing, interest rates falling and the U.S. presidential election behind us, the scene would be set for a return to robust dealmaking. And then came Donald Trump and a hodgepodge of unceasing pronouncements of tariffs, firings of federal workers and closure of agencies, takeover of Greenland, mass deportations, etc.

At an industry event in New Orleans this week, CEOs seemed unsure about where things were headed with one saying, “things are moving so fast, next month could be up, next month could be down…”

And so, with that uncertainty, the markets are reacting.

“There was a lot of positive tension that seemed to be setting us up for good deals going into ‘25; it’s been a little slower in parts, certainly from the market, from who we’re talking to,” Connor Agnew, a managing director at Collingwood, an M&A advisory in the media and events spaces, told AMO. “There does seem to be appetite, especially from private equity backed trade, to be doing deals. The floodgates haven’t opened yet, but it’s broadly positive.”

Part of it is being driven by private equity firms that are under pressure to get returns for their investors after having in many cases held onto companies much longer than usual. PE firms generally hold onto assets for three to five years, but that has been prolonged because of the pandemic of 2020.

PE firm The Wicks Group acquired Bisnow, a commercial real estate news and events company in 2016. That deal’s nearing a decade, which is a century in the PE world, and has been rumored to be close to selling for over a year now.

Earlier this month, Blackstone-backed International Data Group, a market intelligence and data company, completed the sale of Foundry, a portfolio of editorial brands, events and marketing services, to Regent, a private equity firm focused on innovating and transforming businesses. Foundry was one half of IDG, which Blackstone bought in 2021. Blackstone is also said to be weighing a sale of events giant Clarion, acquired in 2017.

And that’s just a few of the brands that have exceeded the typical fund lifecycle. There are many more that have reached the eight year mark with a desire to sell, but no clear path. As one operator at the New Orleans event told AMO, “there are no strategic buyers and PE is jittery.”

Certain industries are also more attractive than others—technology, cybersecurity, healthcare. Business information and other subscription-based revenue will drive the highest prices comparatively to their scale. Once they exceed $5 million in annual recurring revenue, those companies are likely to have already been acquired by trade or have taken on private equity funding. Within media and events more broadly, buyers are looking for material scale, so anything from $1 million to $2 million in profit will start to become interesting.

At the lower end, single-show events delivering $1 million in revenue, with a big enough addressable market to scale quickly, continue to attract interest.

More To Come

Collingwood worked on the RTO Insider and Emerald deals as part of an expansion into the U.S. The firm had worked with RTO, a media and events company covering electricity transmission markets, starting in 2021 to beef up annual recurring revenue and make it an attractive asset for buyers.

“It was a highly competitive process, because what they offered was critical, and they had a very strong, strong and sticky customer base,” Agnew said. “They had delivered really tremendous growth over the last three, four years.”

RTO Insider is the sixth acquisition Yes Energy, which provides power market data, has made since 2022, when it obtained “significant” financial backing from Accel-KKR, a technology-focused private equity firm.

JD Events sold Plant Based World to Emerald Expositions, which has now completed three deals already this year. Agnew said they didn’t do any deals last year and they’re poised for more. Emerald has completed 11 acquisitions over the past four years as it focuses on buying leading B2B events or related assets in existing or new verticals and would consider B2C events in existing verticals.

“We believe our balance sheet strength and cash flow generation support our ability to opportunistically invest in and grow the business,” David Doft, Emerald’s chief financial officer, said on an earnings call earlier this month. “We expected to continue to balance capital allocation between acquisitions, investments in our own business, managing debt leverage and opportunistic share buybacks.”

Others to look for in dealmaking include Nineteen Group and Easyfairs, which got additional funding last year, Agnew said.

Nineteen Group, which organizes large-scale trade events in markets including cyber security, retail technology, manufacturing and engineering, got funding last year after Phoenix Equity Partners raised a £200 million ($259 million) continuation fund.

European events organizer Easyfairs is looking to buy U.S. companies after getting a private equity injection last year.

Suffice it to say, the desire to do deals is there, but the uncertainty does exist.

Jacob Cohen Donnelly contributed to this story.
Update: This story was changed starting in the 11th paragraph to add additional nuance.