It’s easy to forget that just a few months ago, we were all monitoring a flurry of mergers and acquisitions activity that signaled good economic health. But then the coronavirus arrived, impacting nearly every aspect of our personal and professional lives. Some sellers pressed the pause button on deals in hopes of obtaining pre-COVID valuations; buyers, on the other hand, wanted assurances that all lost business would return...
Peter Schaefer, a principal at New Direction Partners, and Mark Michelson, editor-in-chief of Printing Impressions, a sister brand of Print+Promo, predict how the U.S. Department of Justice, Antitrust Div., will rule on the pending acquisition of LSC by Quad. They also discuss—assuming the deal gets finalized—how it will ultimately impact...
Just four months after closing on the acquisition of Madison Forms Corporation, Signal Hill, California-based PDF Print Communications is welcoming Trade Printers Inc. to its portfolio of companies...
Sometimes, despite our noblest intentions, a deal doesn’t come to fruition. There are a million reasons why. Maybe the buyer can’t secure the right financing. Maybe the valuation comes in under or over expectations. Maybe the numbers are just too far apart for the two sides to see eye-to-eye...
Character is what you do when no one is watching. It’s the difference between what we know, and what we think we know. Character is trust. And, it’s at the heart of what makes up our business. Each day, our customers trust us to do what’s right...
If you’re a business owner, chances are good that you’re a driven individual. Many of us have had dreams of creating the next great entrepreneurial venture and becoming a rapidly growing success story. And there’s no doubt that our industry is a great place for that story to begin. But, there’s a hard truth to striking out on your own...
A buyer needs to establish some level of trust in your competence and ability to deliver before they will pull the trigger and buy. But, all too often, I see deals where people lack a sense of trust either in the business they’re buying or in one they’re selling. If you can’t trust the other side, then why are you entering into an agreement together...
There’s a certain myth surrounding mergers and acquisitions (M&As). It’s this idea that when a larger company buys a smaller business, it does so with a “slash-and-burn” mindset—meaning that fear of job loss and change usually works its way into the minds of existing employees working within the company being acquired...
Telling your employees that you’re selling your company isn’t an easy discussion to have—but determining when to have that conversation can be just as challenging. The biggest decision usually lies in whether or not to bring employees into the dialogue early...
Oftentimes, the approaches to growing businesses are as diverse as the range of businesses themselves. But choosing the right avenue, whether it’s organic growth or growth by acquisition, can be a challenge—unless you ask yourself the right questions. Before taking a deep dive into the current state of your business, it’s important to first understand your options...
