DeSilva+Phillips, Media Investment Bankers, releases its tenth annual Report on the Media M&A Marketplace, which assesses and analyzes the near-record year of 2007 and predicting trends for 2008. 2007 was the year that the long dormant consumer magazine sector exploded with acquisitions and the long-awaited storming of digital media properties by traditional media companies finally took place. There were 135 transactions in the sector, down slightly from 2006 but more than any other year in the past ten, and deal value was $9.6 billion - less than half of 2006. DeSilva+Phillips is cautiously optimistic for media deals in 2008.

New York, NY January 29, 2008 — DeSilva+Phillips, Media Investment Bankers, releases its tenth annual Report on the Media M&A Marketplace, which assesses and analyzes the near-record year of 2007 and predicting trends for 2008. Here are the highlights.

• 135 transactions - down from the 2006 number but more than any other year in the past ten, with dramatic loss of momentum in the 4th quarter.
• Deal volume: $9.6 billion - less than half of the 2006 total.
• Strategics did 33% of the top 15 deals but 62% of dollar volume.

The Advertising Market
• The ad market lagged the economy, delivering only 0.2% growth.
• An historic event: the consumer magazine sector may overtake the newspaper sector to become the second-largest media sector, after TV.

Public Media Companies
• DeSilva+Phillips’s basket of 11 public companies declined 2.3% - the first time this century publics moved in the opposite direction to the markets.
• 3 of the basket’s companies have disappeared from the public markets.

The Top 15 Deals
• Consumer deals dominated, with 10, including the 2 biggest, Gemstar-TV Guide and Primedia’s Enthusiast Group. Consumer deals were 72% of the $8.06 billion total value of the list.
• Top B2B deals were the sales of Advanstar and ALM. 3rd biggest: Dolan Media’s IPO, 4th best performing out of 90 NYSE IPOs.

Traditional Media Using M&A to Converge with Digital
• Traditional media built digital capability on a big scale.
• Niche rather than platform acquisitions prevailed.

Valuations
• Multiples unchanged from 2006 through the first three quarters of 2007.
• 2008 multiples will trend downwards between one and two clicks.

Outlook for 2008: M&A transactions will continue strong but at a slower tempo; watch for distressed deals and cross-border deals.

Note: The DeSilva+Phillips Media M&A Report includes announced transactions for consumer and business magazines, medical media, trade shows and conferences, and closely related information, Internet, database and marketing service companies. We cover U.S. activity primarily, and include important non-U.S. acquisitions if made by a U.S. company. We exclude media deals in other sectors, such as book and newspaper publishing, radio, TV, outdoor and pure Internet or online.

For more details, see the full report at DeSilva+Phillips Media Investment Bankers M&A Report 2008.

About DeSilva+ Phillips, Media Investment Bankers
DeSilva+Phillips is a New York-based investment bank specializing in the media, digital media and healthcare communications industries. The firm provides M&A services and private placements of debt and equity to the medical and healthcare media, magazine, Internet, newspaper, book publishing, trade shows & events, information, educational, and marketing-services industries. DeSilva+Phillips has completed more than 185 transactions since 1996. DeSilva+Phillips Corporate Finance LLC is a member of FINRA and SIPC.

Website: www.mediabankers.com

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