Press Release Mergermania — PR Newswire Buys U.S. Newswire
The newswire business seems the hot place to be.
PR Newswire has just announced the acquisition of U.S. Newswire, which focuses on press release distribution in the government and public interest sectors. The price: $19 million in cash and up to an additional $4 million based on future performance.
This comes just two months after PRWeb, the online press release distributor, said it was being acquired by PR software producer Vocus for $28 million in cash and stock. And it follows less than a week after PRWeb announced a distribution partnership with Business Wire, perhaps PR Newswire’s No. 1 competitor.
It looks like the press release wars are on. This is no big surprise, as we’ve been following the rise in importance and scope of public relations for some time now. Clearly, there’s little question that the press release is still the central tool of PR agencies and corporate communications departments.
The big question at this point: “Is there more to come?” PR Newswire suggests in its news release that there is:
“We are very pleased to complete the acquisition of U.S. Newswire and augment our existing offering in the important policy news market. We continue to see attractive opportunities for the further development of PR Newswire both through more acquisitions and continued organic development in the US and Worldwide,” said Charles Gregson, chief executive officer, PR Newswire.
I guess we’ll just keep watching…
Technorati Tags: pr, public relations, press release, merger