$375 million to buy IncesiveMedia

Incisive Media, owner of network of different web sites including several popular ones such as Search Engine Watch and the Search Engine Strategies Conferences agreed to a $375Million (USD) buyout deal with Apex Partners on last Thursday.

As reported today by Search Engine Strategies Social Coordinator and PubCon Director Joseph Morin, Incisive Media CEO, Tim Weller made approximately $20.8Million on the deal. Earlier this month, Search Engine Watch editor Danny Sullivan stunned the search marketing world with his announcement he was leaving Incisive and thus stepping down as Search Engine Watch editor and SES conference coordinator as of December 2006.

We think it is not the typical web 2.0 like deal we are witnessing lately and aside the fact that the price represents 20 times their earnings on average, if we got it correctly, is pretty good deal, yet their entire network of web properties are considered used up on the web, i.e. no room for father growth, which to justify this price. No web 2.0 buzz around which to take these properties to the next level and so on.

Apex Partners is a 30-year old global private equity investment group with holdings in the tech, telecom, retail, consumer services, media, healthcare and financial services sectors. It holds over $20Billion in capital and investments.

Some quotes below:
“We feel the next phase in the company's development would be better realized as a well-backed private company, rather than by remaining on the quoted markets," Stephen Grabiner, a partner of Apex Partners, said in a press statement.



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