Full Year 2010 Media & Marketing Industry Trends

2010 Key Highlights

• The largest transaction for 2010 was Warburg Pincus and Silver Lake Partners’ acquisition of Interactive Data Corporation, which is majority owned by Pearson plc, for $3.25 billion.
• Internet Media was the largest segment by transaction volume this year, with 239 transactions.
• There were 108 financially sponsored transactions with an aggregate value of $8.30 billion, representing 16 percent of the total volume and 38 percent of the total value, respectively.

2010 Key Trends

• Total transaction volume in 2010 increased by 27 percent over 2009, from 542 in 2009 to 687 this year.
• Total transaction value in 2010 decreased by 35 percent over 2009, from $36.94 billion in 2009 to $24 billion this year.
• The median revenue multiple rose from 1.4 in 2009 to 1.8 in 2010.
• The segment with the largest increase in volume in 2010 over 2009 was Entertainment Content with an 80 percent increase from 54 transactions in 2009 to 97 transactions in 2010. This increase can be attributed in part to the recent influx of mobile and social video game studio transactions.

M&A Market Overview

Berkery Noyes tracked 2765 transactions between 2007 and 2010, of which 1005 disclosed financial terms, and calculated the aggregate transaction value to be $214.64 billion. Based on known transaction values, we project the value of the 1760 undisclosed transactions to be $27.77 billion, totalling $242.40 billion worth of transactions tracked over the past four years.

The largest transaction tracked by Berkery Noyes between 2007 and 2010 was The Thomson Corporations’ merger with Reuters Group PLC, for $17.58 billion in December 2009.

The most active acquirer by volume in the media industry between 2007 and 2010 was United Business Media Limited, which made 40 purchases, 21 of which were announced in 2010.