ALM Media, the American Lawyer publisher, has decided to explore a sale, which could secure the company $500 million, according to Reuters. The company used to be controlled by Bruce Wasserstein.
ALM Media is backed by Apax Partners, a private equity firm. Jefferies has been hired by ALM Media to help in the sale of the company. The companies legal magazines are very popular across the country.
ALM owns real estate and legal publications such as Corporate Counsel, the American Lawyer Law.com and the New York Law Journal. The company also sponsors conferences held across the country. It was sold to Apax in 2007 for $630 million.
Last year, ALM cut 35 people from its staff, which amounts to seven-percent of its employees. The company brings in $55 million in earnings each year prior to tax, interest, depreciation and amortization.
In an interview with Folio Magazine, Reed Phillips, the CEO of desilva + phillips, said the following about the potential sale:
“I don’t think the strategic [buyers] in the legal space will be interested. ALM is more a media company than an information services business so the fit is not good. But within media, ALM is the clear market leader in publications, events [and] marketing services. It most likely will be sold to a private equity sponsor.”
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I couldn’t agree more with Reed Philips. They are marketing ALM as if it were a database company but in reality it is an old-line media company. With so much of their EBITDA coming from advertising and print, why would any of the big players want to have to pay for print revenue? The question is what private equity sponsor would want to pony up so much money for an industry that is dying. Warren Buffett and Jeff Bezos have been able to buy in to the print game at fire sale prices. No way a collection of trade publications sells for twice as much as the Washington Post.