Deal magazine, which chronicles M&A, is for sale

The Deal magazine, which focuses on reporting about the mergers and acquisitions business, is for sale, reports The Wall Street Journal, with the paper passing on bidding on the publication.

Anupreeta Das, William Launder and Eyk Henning write, “Owned by private-equity firm Wasserstein & Co., The Deal explored a sale several years ago but failed to secure the price it desired, the people said.

“The company has been battling losses due to falling print advertising revenue, like many of its counterparts in the publishing industry, some of the people said. The financial crisis and subsequent economic downturn has pressured traditional media companies, whose businesses depended largely on revenue from ad sales, even as people were moving to the Internet to consume news and entertainment.

“Founded in 1999 as The Daily Deal newspaper and website, the New York-based company employs more than 120 people, including 68 journalists. It has a circulation of 40,000, according to its website. In 2000, a group of investors including Wasserstein & Co. invested $30 million. Wasserstein & Co. is the buyout firm of investment banker and former chief of Lazard Ltd. Bruce Wasserstein, who died in 2009. Mr. Wasserstein was known as a patron of journalism, and his investments included New York magazine.

“In addition to its namesake magazine, which features stories about individual deals, profiles of bankers and trends in the world of mergers, The Deal also owns an information service, The Deal Pipeline, which contains information on transactions that Wall Street investors and deal-makers pay to access.”

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