Bono: I Bought The News Today
Elevation Partners, named after one of its partner’s songs, has purchased a large minority stake in the newly-reated Forbes Media. Describing the rationale behind the deal, Steve Forbes dais, “We wanted the wherewithal to pursue the enormous opportunities in front of us, and Elevation understands technology, media and print.” Exact terms were not disclosed, but the chatter is that the private equity firm received more than 40 percent of Forbes Media for an investment in the range of $250 million to $300 million. With print ad sales on the decline, the allure of the deal was most likely Forbes.com, which has more than 10 million unique visitors a month, which is music to advertisers’ ears.
Investors, Including Bono, Buy Forbes [NY Times]
J.P. Morgan Merger Maven Moves to Morgan Stanley
In a trend reversal of bad news coming out of Morgan Stanley, the venerable firm announced it had lured away M&A hotshot Robert Kindler from rival J.P. Morgan. In addition to what one can only assume will be a pay hike for Kindler, Morgan Stanley also kicked in the title of vice chairman of investment banking. According to The Wall Street Journal, Kindler is also old pals with MS co-prez Robert Scully.
Chief of Mergers to Morgan Stanley [WSJ]
Dow Jones Top Brass Close to the Money
One rule of business is that it’s always better to be closer to the money. This rings particularly true in journalism, where most scribes toil away for peanuts. The NY Post dug through a recent 8-K filing by Dow Jones and learned that at least some of its employees are doin’ okay. Former Dow Jones CEO Peter Kann will pull down $4.7 million in comp over the next two years while his wife, Karen Elliott House, who resigned recently as publisher of the The Journal, will get roughly $1.7 million. If you’re really interested, The Post has plenty of other salacious details on the comp packages.
Dow Duo Take All They Kann [NY Post]
Voodoo Accounting Reaches The Sopranos
For all the Wall Street attention on the pros and cons of EBITDA, one investor still believes in it. Paulie Walnuts, when trying to coerce a sanitation company to sell itself to Tony Soprano and not another mob family, says: “Do you even know what your EBITDA is?” [he pronounced it EBB-bitda] “It gives a true picture of a company’s profitability.”—DF
The Sopranos [HBO.com]
