Emerging high-tech publisher: Miller Freeman to buy Dr. Dobb's - M and T Publishing's Dr. Dobb's Journal - Brief Article

Folio: The Magazine for Magazine Management, Feb 1, 1993 by Erika Isler, Keith J. Kelly

San Francisco-based Miller Freeman was ready to buy 10-year-old M&T Publishing, publishers of high-tech titles such as Dr. Dobb's Journal, LAN Technology and DBMS, by the end of December, according to inside sources. The deal - valued at $18.5 million - includes M&T books and an international marketing division.

The deal marks the second acquisition Miller Freeman made in 1992 as United Newspapers, the London-based parent company of Miller Freeman, tried to give the U.S. operating arm some critical mass in the high-tech/computer publishing field.

Last fall, the electronics division of Miller Freeman acquired CADence from Ariel Communications in Texas for an undisclosed amount. Add M&T's approximately $33 million in revenues in 1992 to the estimated $50 million in annual revenues Miller Freeman already has in this area, and a potentially powerful niche competitor is suddenly taking shape in this category.

Revenues of more than $80 million a year would put Miller Freeman's high-tech holdings on the same plane as midlevel players McGraw-Hill and Cahners. It would still have a way to go before it catches CMP Publications, ($150 million in estimated high-tech sales) and giants IDG and Ziff-Davis (more than $500 million each). "We're still in the acquisition mode," says Donald Pazour, vice president and group director of Miller Freeman's high-tech magazines. "And we still have several start-ups on the books, so the strategy is to combine both start-up development and acquisitions in the future."