INT Media Group, Inc. , the parent company of
this publication, has purchased the remaining research and events businesses
from Internet research firm Jupiter Media Metrix
for $250,000, the companies said Friday.
The deal marks a final chapter in the history of the New York-based Jupiter
Media Metrix, which has sold off roughly $27 million worth of different operating units for the past year amid a two-year shakeout in the Internet-related and technology industry.
Alan M. Meckler, chairman and CEO of INT Media Group, was thrilled with the purchase. “We are ecstatic to be able to acquire one of the great world brands in market research.”
Indeed, Meckler was so happy with the name that he said the company will probably incorporate it into the INT name in the future.
INT Media Group, a technology trade publisher of about 150 Web sites and a trade show planner, also provides research and in-depth analysis on six segments of the Internet and Information Technology industries.
The sectors include application service providers, online advertising & Web marketing, Internet Service Providers, Internet technology developments, IT investment strategies and nanotechnology advancements. The company also owns about 175 technology industry e-mail newsletters, which number about 5 million subscribers in all.
Kurt Abrahamson, president of Jupiter Research, is to continue in the same
capacity with INT Media Group, which plans to retain the Jupiter brand
name and operate it as its own division within the company.
Robert Becker, chief executive officer of Jupiter Media Metrix, said: “INT
Media Group provides the ideal platform for the Jupiter Research and Events
businesses to flourish.”
Jupiter Media Metrix began as Jupiter Research in the mid 1990s,
specializing in Internet-related reports in 17 business areas.
But when the Nasdaq sell-off hit in early 2000, followed by a recession,
many of Jupiter’s dot-com clients went bust, while corporate spending on
dot-com strategies pulled back. As its revenues dropped, it tried to merge
with onetime rival Neilsen//NetRatings, but federal anti-trust concerns
about two Internet research firms merging canned the deal.
Some of its recent sales include its North American and research panel assets to Virginia-based comScore Networks for $1.5 million in cash. In April, its onetime acquirer NetRatings paid $8.5 million to acquire Jupiter’s Seattle-based AdRelevance group, which tracks online campaigns, sites’ ad sales and advertisers’ spending. It also picked up about $15 million selling its patents. In all, the asset sales have brought in just over $27 million for Jupiter.
Jupiter’s research services division brought in about $42.2 million during 2001, while events took in about $3.4 million, among the hardest hit areas for the firm. In 2000, Jupiter took in $31.9 million from events.
Overall, Jupiter Media Metrix’s revenues (before the sales of units) were $89.1 million during 2001. INT Media took in about $43.9 million in revenues during the same time.
The company, with corporate headquarters in Darien, Conn., said the transaction includes assuming some of Jupiter’s liabilities as well. The deal is expected to close by the end of July, pending the usual approvals by stockholders.
In the meantime, however, INT Media said it would assume responsibility for
operating the Jupiter Research and Events businesses, which employ about 95
people.
Now, the next step is for the company’s board of directors to meet and decide how to wind down the remaining corporate holding company, which still has about 30 people employed, a spokesperson said. The board is meeting next week to decide whether it has enough cash to pay off debt and obligations.
The acquisition is expected to be neutral to earnings in 2002 and accretive
in 2003.
Jupiter’s share price closed up about 10 percent at 22 cents.
atNewYork is among the Web properties owned by INT Media Group
