ALM and Incisive Media Split and Stand Independently
It a little-noticed news item, the little blue Incisive Media frog will be hopping off ALM publications -- most notably The American Lawyer and National Law Journal -- and three dozen newsletters, newspapers, conferences, and web sites that London-based Incisive bought in 2007 for $630 million.
ALM, headquartered in New York, is once again an independent standalone company, whose brands also include Corporate Counsel, GlobeSt.com, Insight Conferences, Law.com, Law Journal Press, LegalTech and Real Estate Forum. ALM was formed in 1997.
A key point is that ALM management stays in place. "Although we have a new name and structure, our business positions are fundamentally unchanged," ALM CEO Bill Pollak wrote in an internal memo.
According Pollak, “We are really focused right now on building products that are end-user or subscriber funded. We love newspapers, and magazines and Web sites that carry advertising, and we will continue to be there; but we believe our future is in developing research products, competitive intelligence products and business information products our markets will value and ultimately pay for.”
ALM's second priority is “revamping all of our Web sites to move from Web 1.0 to Web 2.0,” Pollak said. “We need to upgrade all of our sites across the board so that our whole network is up-to-date.”
Instead of being owned by one private equity fund (Wasserstein & Co.) ALM continues to be owned by a different private equity fund (Apax). Incisive and London's Legal Week will share content with ALM.
"In a difficult media environment, our brands have been doing relatively well. And they see the stability of the legal marketplace in particular compared to most other b-to-b markets," Pollak wrote in his blog. "Our outlook for the future is very positive, and I have been emphasizing our growth plans for the future to all who will listen, looking forward rather than looking back."
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One change I'll notice immediately: all of my friends at the company will be getting new email addresses, new business cards and new stationery.
