Despite the troubles in some corners of the media landscape, deals were bountiful in 2007, according to a new report from media investment bank Jordan Edmiston Group. There were 838 media M&A deals in 2007, 32% more than in 2006, with a total dollar value of $108 billion, up 79% from 2006.
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The tally was helped in large part by some megadeals, most notable the Reuters Group plc-Thomson Corp. merger, News Corp.'s purchase of Dow Jones & Co. and Sam Zell's buyout of Tribune Co.
However, the most consistent corner of the media landscape were Internet deals. With 306 online media deals, the sector accounted for over a third of the deal volume. Despite the number of online deals, newspaper deals still reigned in dollar volume thanks to the Tribune and Dow Jones deals. However, paidContent notes that if Sam Zell's and Rupert Murdoch's deals were removed from the equation, then deal activity would better reflect the state of the newspaper industry: down. - Matthew Wurtzel
See the tallies via Jordan Edmiston press release (pdf)
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