Questex Files for Bankruptcy
Jinfo Blog

7th October 2009

By Nancy Davis Kho

Item

JP Morgan's report of media buyers reporting a modest 5 to 9% increase in anticipated ad buys for the second half of 2009 (http://digbig.com/5bakde) comes too late for one player. B2B Publisher Questex Media Group (http://www.questex.com) filed for bankruptcy on October 6, citing a severe liquidity crunch after revenues from its publishing, events, and advertising business cratered over the past year. Under the terms of the agreement, a group of the company’s senior lenders are expected to enter into an agreement to serve as the stalking horse for a purchase of substantially all of the assets of the company pursuant to a Section 363 sale. The company and its financial stakeholders expect to complete the sale process on an expedited basis within 60 days; the hope is that operations will continue without interruption. Chief Executive Officer Kerry Gumas said, “This restructuring will enable our team members to remain focused on creating and delivering the superior products and services our customers have come to expect.” The company's media properties include over 100 print and digital media publications, 45 conferences, tradeshows and events, as well as a range of research, data and information products. The company's flagship technology event is the AIIM International Exposition & Conference, the world's largest annual gathering of business and IT executives with an interest in the technologies associated with capturing, storing, organizing, sharing and accessing enterprise content and information. InfoTrends is another Questex division, providing market research and strategic consulting for the digital imaging and document markets, and selling research and forecasts from its online store. The same week that the JP Morgan report showed cautious optimism about the future, a report released by the Interactive Advertising Bureau shows what media companies like Questex are fighting against in the current economic climate. The IAB report found that U.S. Internet advertising revenues were at $10.9 billion for the first six months of the year, a 5.3% decline from the same period in 2008 http://digbig.com/5bakdh. Closures of consumer titles from Conde Nast like Gourmet and Modern Bride this week, also attributed to plummeting ad sales, show that the publishing industry's bumpy ride is far from over.

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