A glance at Informa’s most recent annual report reveals why it’s mistaken to frame its acquisition of TechTarget as an “offloading” of Informa Tech, as the IIAR did in its quick take on the news. I think Carter Lusher‘s approach is more nuanced: see his post on LinkedIn: https://lnkd.in/gX5X_nyi
Tech Target has not bought Informa Tech. Informa has paid $350m for control of Tech Target, and the Informa Tech CEO replaced the Tech Target CEO. I ask the IIAR: In what world is Informa paying for control “offloading”? Surely it would be offloading if Tech Target’s management was replacing Informa Tech’s.
Evaluating this based on what happened to *subscriptions* in 2022 (a point raised on The IIAR> (Institute of Influencer & Analyst Relations’ discussion board) isn’t very correct. The information business model has been in a long-term transition away from subscriptions for decades. Informa Tech is leading Informa’s transition towards data-driven marketing and supporting sales.
Informa Tech exceeded expectations with 43% revenue growth: Informa Tech grew revenues from 10% of Informa’s total to 14%. Informa Tech continues to grow, with purchases like Canalys, Industry Dive, and NetLine (whose Investive product drives lead generation for B2B tech). That doesn’t fit a narrative of Informa divesting Informa Tech.
In that context, with Informa Tech being a key pillar of Informa as a whole, what does it mean to say (on the IIAR discussion board) that “Informa paid too much to Mike Danson for Omdia.” Mike Danson never owned Omdia. He sold *DataMonitor* to Informa in 2007, just before the credit crunch. That was the high point of valuations for businesses like that. Yup, the credit crunch changed the value of businesses like Datamonitor. But that was a fair price at the time and gave it the core of a business intelligence business, which is now essential to the business. Informa Tech is the most profitable part of Informa’s B2B operations, and with 20% profit, there’s no reason to divest it.
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