Min's B to B articles from May 2003

Min's B to B archives from May 2003

This Week's ABM Meet Ironically Tackles M&A in Asia.
May 5, 2003... Sure to be a must-do at this week's American Business Media Spring Meeting in Savannah will be Tuesday's (May 6) "How to Make a Deal Happen in China," presentation given the recent SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) outbreak in Asia....

Growing Global: PennWell Takes Control Solutions International...(PennWell Publishing to relaunch title)(Brief Article)
May 5, 2003... With more than 2 million U.S. manufacturing jobs lost between 2000 and 2002 (per Institute of Supply Management), it is no surprise that Tulsa, OK-based PennWell Publishing recently decided to re-launch 75 year-old Control Solutions as Control...

... As Manufacturing (And Advertising) Migrate East, Sans SARS Effect.(PennWell Publishing)(Brief Article)
May 5, 2003... According to Cariello, special emphasis will be given to markets in Asia with 5K of CSI subscribers receiving a Chinese-language version. "The explosive growth and opportunity afforded by the Chinese market demands a publication in the local...

Cygnus Cuts iSource Circ., Offers New Look on Logistics.(Cygnus Business Media, iSource Business)(Brief Article)
May 5, 2003... Speaking of manufacturing, Cygnus Business Media's logistics management book, iSource Business, unveils a new look in the April/May issue this week. Launched in 2000, iSource was purchased from Vulcan Media by CBM a year ago in a package deal...

Primedia Loss ($20.2M) Lessens, As Interim CEO McCurdy May Stay Put.(Brief Article)
May 5, 2003... With Q1 earnings season coming to a close, B2B media companies weighed-in last week with weak results, led by Primedia's $20.2M net loss. However, revenues of $375.8M ended only slightly off from Q1 2002 ($378M). Meanwhile, continued cost...

Penton Posts Poor Q1 As Kemp Expects 'Difficulties' to Continue in Q2.(Brief Article)
May 5, 2003... It was a similar story at Penton Media last week, with Q1 posting a net loss of $5.1M for the company compared to a $43.9M shortfall a year earlier (which included a non-cash charge of $39.7M) as revenues ($54.4M) retreated 11% from a year ago....

Case Closed: Bush Signs Postal Reform Act, Saves B2B Publishers $60M Thru '06.(Brief Article)
May 5, 2003... Years of pounding the pavement paid off for American Business Media recently as President George W. Bush signed the Postal Civil Service Retirement System Funding Reform Act (April 26), allowing the United States Postal Service to avoid...

Box Scores: Banking/Finance Sector Fizzles in February (-17% Ad $$$).(Illustration)
May 5, 2003... Rising unemployment, war jitters and fears of terrorism combined to keep banking and finance titles ad pages (-21.24%) and ad spending (-17.11%) in the red for February, per CMR. Books, both big (Thomson Media's American Banker: - 31.87% ad...

February Ad Page (-10%)/$$$ (-4%) Freeze Cools Ad/Marketing Titles.(Illustration)
May 5, 2003... CMR's advertising and marketing sector remained in retreat for February (-9.44% ad pages/-4.31% ad revenues), thanks to frugal marketers. Most damaging were drops at Crain Communications' Advertising Age (-13.46%/-3.42%) and VNU's Media Week...

B2B People: Movers & Shakers.(personnal changes)(Brief Article)
May 5, 2003... Last week, Wicks Business Information announced the appointment of William "Willy" Burkhardt (ex-ESPN/ McKinsey & Co.) to executive VP/COO and John Riccardi (ex-AAA Entertainment/Marlin Broadcasting) to executive VP/CFO... Reed Business...

Editor's Note: min's b2b Moves to New Downtown Digs.
May 5, 2003... Just a reminder to readers that min, min's b2b and PR News is now located at: 110 William Street, 11th Floor New York, NY 10038 Email addresses (aderico@pbimedia.com) remain the same. Phone: 212.621.4877 and fax: 212.621.4879 has...

Primedia Prunes Media Central Unit...(Brief Article)
May 12, 2003... In an effort to cut costs and consolidate businesses, Primedia pulled the plug last week on its Media Central unit--formed under the auspices of Steve Brill's failed Inside.com venture. The decision came just weeks after Charlie McCurdy...

... As Overlaps Lead to Layoffs, Folio: Editor-in-Chief Neuhaus Departs.(Brief Article)
May 12, 2003... The restructuring has also led the elimination of an unspecified number of Media Central's sales, support, editorial, production and IT positions, according to a company spokesman, who declined to provide any further details. Reuters, however...

ABM Shows New Members (47) Some Southern Hospitality...(Brief Article)
May 12, 2003... The mood at American Business Media's Spring Meeting in Savannah last week was a bit more upbeat than when they last met back in November; however, the over 300 executives that huddled for the three-day event were not exactly all smiles. So...

... As Farewell from VNU CEO Hobbs Highlights 34-Year B2B Career.(Gerry Hobbs)(Brief Article)
May 12, 2003... Main event at the four-day meet was a farewell from retiring VNU chairman/CEO Gerry Hobbs. A 34-year B2B publishing vet, Hobbs addressed the parallels between today's economic challenges and that of the 1991-92 recession when he was running BPI...

Box Scores: Developer Sector $$$ Dims in March (-34%)...(Brief Article)
May 12, 2003... Developer titles tracked by CMR plummeted in March as ad pages (-33.15%) and ad spending (-33.68%) sank. Winners were few and far between in the five-Monday month as all top titles sans CMP Media's MSDN Magazine (+2.27% ad pages/+2.04% ad...

PCMag.com Facelift Speeds/Spruces Up Content.(Brief Article)
May 12, 2003... Remodeling at Ziff Davis Media continued last week, as PCMag.com became the latest property to reveal a new look and feel. The redesigned companion site to ZD flagship, PC Magazine offers users faster access to timelier editorial coverage of...

Eyeballs Stay in Business Despite the First Online War.(Brief Article)
May 12, 2003... Conventional Web wisdom (if such a thing is theoretically possible) has it that in any given month Web traffic is a zero sum game because the Web audience has only so much time to spend online. If traffic naturally goes to sectors such as...

Bloomberg.com Slims Down.
May 12, 2003... Bloomberg.com launches a radical redo this month, paring back on the amount of information on the home page to about seven or eight stories, columns, and current market data. The console-like structure is being pitched directly at competitors...

min's b2b Exclusive Circulation Analysis (Second-Half 2002) Part I: Except for a Few, B2B Publishers Kept Cutting Across the Board.(Illustration)(Industry Overview)
May 19, 2003... Still reeling from the dot.com meltdown and 9/11 terror attacks, B2B publishers continued to slash circulation in the second-half of 2002, according to this weeks min's b2b exclusive circulation analysis of Business of Performing Audits Int'l...

CM Conference Tackles New Circ. Strategies for Tough Times.(Circulation Management)(Brief Article)
May 19, 2003... In fact, happenings at Primedia's CM (Circulation Management) Conference & Expo last week (May 13-14) in New York underscored the importance of developing new strategies to deal with the current circulation challenges many publishers are...

... As CMP's Cadence Marches to Different Circ. Strategy.(Brief Article)
May 19, 2003... CMP Media's Cadence recently embarked upon a strategy that combines both print and digital publishing. Having gone to a controlled circ. rate of 50K from 80K with the April issue, Cadence will augment readership with an online edition...

... As B2B Marketing Pros Profess 'Dos and Don'ts' to Add Ad Dollars.(Brief Article)
May 19, 2003... B2B marketers are taking the news with a grain of salt though. At a recent pow wow at ABM's Spring Meet in Savannah, marketing gurus spoke to the continued uphill battle many publishers still face (i.e. ad recession, rate card cuts). Carmichael...

Advanstar Finishes Q1 Flat As Revenues ($109M) Reflect '02.(Brief Article)
May 19, 2003... Rounding out B2B media plays posting quarterly earnings, Advanstar Communications recently released Q1 revenue returns ($109.4M) that mirrored results from the same period a year ago. While not the best news, Advanstar's even earnings were not...

B2B People: Movers & Shakers.(employee moves at b2b publishers)(Brief Article)
May 19, 2003... Last week, Fairchild Publishing announced the addition of Margery Gladstone (ex-Primedia) as publisher at DNR. She replaces Carlos Lamadrid who left for the publisher position at Men's Journal... Penton Media promoted Tom Cooney to publisher of...

Penton Remakes U.S. Internet World Into Weekly e-Newsletter.(Brief Article)
May 26, 2003... Internet World became the latest casualty of the dot.conomy collapse, as Penton Media announced last week that the June issue of the U.S. print edition would be IW's last. Acquired as part of the $274M buyout of Mecklermedia in 1998 (min's b2b,...

BPA's Black Sees Print Circ. Comeback Questionable; Digital Gains Momentum.(B2B print circulation is not likely to improve any time soon)(Brief Article)
May 26, 2003... Don't bank on things getting any better for B2B print circulation anytime soon, says BPA Int'l senior VP/marketing Peter Black. "It's becoming increasingly difficult for publishers to maintain circulation levels, " he tells us. "I don't know...

"It's Been Going Like Crazy": BizJournals.com Re-launches With 2(x) the Revenue.
May 26, 2003... In another sure sign that B2B ad money is there if you know how to look for it, BizJournals.com says it has doubled its ad revenue in the last six months alone. "All of this stuff has been coming together and it's been going like crazy over the...

A Network Dream Come True?(local busineses are beginning to turn to Internet advertising)(Brief Article)
May 26, 2003... In the late 90s, many publishers pursued the BizJournals model of trying to knit together local publications into a national network and sell advertising at both levels. In many cases, it never worked, in part because advertisers never saw the...