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Tough integration ahead for WME Entertainment - Sonenclar sees hurt feelings, new agencies ahead
5/5/2009
By Richard Morgan
Although the merger of equals announced Monday
between 111-year-old William Morris Agency LLC and 14-year-old Endeavor Agency
LLC was preceded by six months of careful deliberation, those affected by the
talent agencies' integration can expect at least another six months of
pain.
"There's going to be a lot of hurt feelings, up and down the line,"
said Ken Sonenclar, managing director in the digital media and technology group
of New York investment bank DeSilva & Phillips LLC. And that integration
pain, he added, "seems likely to spawn new agencies in the near
term."
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Martha Stewart to speak at DeSilva+Phillips Future of Celebrity Media Conference
5/5/2009
By
Martha Stewart will discuss her use of the Twitter medium at the
upcoming DeSilva + Phillips, Mediabankers(tm) conference, The Future of
Celebrity Media. This morning conference takes place before an invited
audience May 14th at the Tribeca Film Center in New York, and other
speakers include the most notable editors, executives and entrepreneurs
of celebrity media both print and online. There is no charge for
attendance, but space is limited and invitations must be requested from
DeSilva+Phillips, Mediabankers, a leading media investment bank in New
York City.
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Microsoft Sells Franchise Gator To Landmark Interactive; Price Around $20 Million
4/3/2009
By Rafat Ali
Microsoft’s digital advertising division, which includes what was formerly aQuantive, has sold off its small subsidiary Franchise Gator, to Landmark Interactive, paidContent has learned. The sale price is around $20 million.
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MediaPost
DeSilva+Phillips Celebrity Reports shows Print Pubs need better use of web
3/26/2009
By Gavin O'Mallley
As seemingly trivial as celebrity news is,
established publishers have for years made the potentially fatal
mistake of not taking its online coverage more seriously.
That's according to a new report from media investment bank DeSilva +
Phillips, which credits the larger economic downturn for exposing media
companies' failure to effectively recreate their print franchises
online.
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WPP's Spence at DeSilva+Phillips Media Summit: 'We Got The Memo: Keep On Acquiring'
2/6/2009
By David Kaplan
While the sputtering economy has slowed M&A activity considerably the last few months, WPP Group
apparently didn't get the memo that now's the time to retrench and
wait. Actually, Sheila Spence, SVP in WPP's corporate development, told
attendees at the DeSilva + Phillps Dealmakers Summitt
that she's gotten a very different memo. Speaking on a panel with other
ad agency execs, Spence said: "We did get a memo: keep on acquiring."
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Reed Exhibitions Looking to US Acquisitions, CEO tells DeSilva+Phillips Summit audience
2/6/2009
By Sean Callahan
Mike Rusbridge announces interest in acquisitions at the DeSilva+Phillips Media Dealmakers Summit Feb. 5.
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Online ad networks suffer as US media deals dry up
1/26/2009
By Geoffrey Precourt
WARC Online's US Editor, Geoffrey Precourt, reports on the publication of the 2009 DeSilva+Phillips M&A Report.
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DeSilva+Phillips Report: Media Deals Dipped in '08 A scant $2 billion worth of reported transactions
1/2/2009
By Lucia Moses
With the credit markets frozen, deal-making slowed
to its lowest level in at least eight years, with more deals
falling through than getting done. A scant $2 billion worth of
reported transactions took place in 2008, down from $9.6 billion in
2007, according to investment bank DeSilva + Phillips' 2009 M&A
report.
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Reed Pulls Mag Sale - DeSilva says buyers couldn't get comfortable with publisher's future
12/11/2008
By Keith Kelly
Reed Elsevier, which has been trying for nine months to unload its
worldwide print business, is now yanking the titles off the auction
block.
Even though the price tag for the titles, which includes
entertainment trade paper Variety and Publishers Weekly, dropped to $1
billion from $2 billion, potential suitors still had trouble getting
financing to complete a deal.
Their business is facing a very uncertain 2009, as a lot of B-to-B
businesses are," said Roland DeSilva, a managing partner with DeSilva
Phillips & Co., a media investment banker. "As a result, potential
buyers could not get comfortable with a view into the future."
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Playboy CEO Announces Resignation - Reed Phillips says successor must exploit the power of the brand
12/9/2008
By Russell Adams
Christie Hefner said Monday she will resign as chairman and chief executive of Playboy Enterprises Inc., ending a two-decade run as the company founded by her father sputters.
Reed Phillips, managing partner of the media investment bank DeSilva
& Phillips, said Playboy under Ms. Hefner has lagged behind
competitors in exploiting the power of its brand. "There's always been
more opportunity in the company than they've ever realized," said Mr.
Phillips, who isn't a Playboy investor. Analysts and industry veterans
said Ms. Hefner was hampered in these efforts by her father's devotion
to the print product.
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Jeff Dearth on PC Magazine's decision to go all-digital
12/8/2008
By Sean Callahan
Ziff Davis Media announced last month that it would shutter the print version of PC Magazine. The January edition of the storied publication will be its last in print.
Jeffrey Dearth,
managing director of media investment bank DeSilva & Phillips, said
he didn't expect such a move. “I was actually a little surprised,” he
said. “It still had a circulation of 600,000, which is still a big
circulation.” Dearth, however, acknowledged the migration of both
audiences and advertisers online, especially in the tech sector, did
offer plenty of rationale for the move.
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'Dramatic Restructuring' Could Become the Norm in 2009
12/3/2008
By Matt Kinsman
Publishers aren't the only ones looking for new ways to keep dollars coming in. Media banker DeSilva + Phillips announced yesterday
a new "operational restructuring practice," which will offer
recommendations for improving financial performance, including
"identification of revenue enhancement and cost savings opportunities,
operating efficiencies, incentive compensation plans, investment
savings and evaluation of strategic alternatives."
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Media M&A Firm to Offer Restructuring Advice:
12/1/2008
By Jason Fell
In recession, DeSilva + Phillips goes beyond deals.
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Gannett Buys Social Media Tech Company Ripple6
11/13/2008
By David Kaplan
Gannett has acquired social net tools provider Ripple6
to create online communities for its own properties and outside media
companies.
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Barron's Makes A Deal - strategics take advantage of weak debt market for PE, says Phillips
10/10/2008
By David Freeman
With its acquisition last month of the Winner's Circle Organization, Barron's
increased its stake in the lucrative business conference industry while
strengthening its ties to the financial advisers who make up one of its
core audiences. Reed Phillips, managing partner at DeSilva+Phillips, the
media investment bank that represented Winner's Circle in the deal, said “a
lot of the buyers had been private equity firms, and they can't borrow
as much now as they were able to a year ago.” As a result, he said,
media companies are outmaneuvering private equity firms.
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MediaPost
The Future of Media: Money. Richard Morgan speaks to Roland DeSilva about capital and convergence
10/2/2008
By Richard Morgan
Richard Morgan speaks to Roland DeSilva on the role capital will play in creating the seamless media brand experience of the future - when "it won't matter if
the technical medium for any one aspect of the brand's representation
is print, online or a hologram," as Roland says.
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M&A Deals Still Slow, Right Now, but white paper predicts continued growth, though smaller deals
9/8/2008
By Rachel Wymberly
Beyond a few small- to mid-market transactions, the go-go days of
billion-dollar deals are a thing of the past, at least for now – but
perhaps not for long.
According to Ken Collins, partner at media investment banking firm
desilva+phillips, once the credit markets recover and private equity
and other buyers start getting into the game again, the sky will be the
limit.
“It continues to be a wonderful business,” Collins said. While other
sectors might be taking a hit because of the struggling economy, he
added, the tradeshow industry is alive and well, presenting “excellent
cash-flow opportunities” for those interested in investing in it.
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DM News
As ad network growth surges, a vertical focus takes forefront - Ken Sonenclar cautions
9/1/2008
By Ellen Keohane
Many people have been “jumping in” to the business, admitted Ken
Sonenclar, managing director at media investment bank DeSilva +
Phillips. “Seemingly, if you get the right ad network together and
aggregate the right audience, you can make money,” he said.
Barriers to entry are also relatively low, as they are in many of the aspects of digital publishing, Sonenclar said.
Sonenclar sees remnant networks suffering, since these networks
don't give visibility to advertisers about where their ads are going.
“There's definitely been a push towards transparency,” he said.
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EYE 'CANDY' ON SALE - Reed Phillips sees bull market for online media properties
8/24/2008
By Peter Lauria
Bankers are aggressively shopping online media assets in the hopes of getting a taste of some of that sweet DailyCandy cash.
The eye-popping $125 million sale of the shopping and culture
newsletter and Web site to Comcast three weeks ago - which followed
closely on the heels of the $23 million sale of Mediabisto.com and the
$30 million deal for paidcontent.org - has created something of a bull
market for online media assets, investment bankers said.
Reed Phillips, a managing partner with boutique media investment
bank DeSilva & Phillips, said he is currently in "serious
negotiations" with potential buyers on three separate online media
deals that could close in the next 45 days.
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MAN DOWN AT ALPHA MEDIA - Reed Phillips comments on Brownridge's elevation to Chairman
8/21/2008
By Stephanie D. Smith
“Quadrangle may want more hands-on urgency in terms of taking the business to the next level,” said Reed Phillips, managing partner at DeSilva + Phillips. “They may feel that Kent’s at the stage in his career where he’s better off providing the vision, and working with board level on strategy, not being the person that implements the strategy.” Some analysts also believed that in his new role, Brownridge may search for other deals for Quadrangle.
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