Jupitermedia, a publisher of research and news about online media, today announced that it plans to sell its online news sites and search engine trade for $43 million in cash, reports MediaPost. The buyer is London-based trade publisher Incisive Media plc. The deal includes the ClickZ.com network of sites, including SearchEngineWatch.com, and the Search Engine Strategies tradeshows.
In 2004, Jupitermedia reported $39.9 million in revenue - and $23.6 million in gross profits - from its online media and events divisions, which generated revenues of $21.5 million in the first half of 2005.
The sale is another sign that the M&A market for business-to-business media is still healthy - at least for publishers in the online media sector - writes MediaPost's Joe Mandese.
Incisive Media said it plans to use the acquisition to expand into the U.S. B-to-B publishing market, and to extend the reach of the search engine strategies conferences into other markets.
Chairman-CEO of Jupitermedia Alan Meckler, who has been acquiring stock photography and digital images businesses, said the sale would help strengthen Jupitermedia's balance sheet and make additional acquisitions possible.
