SourceMedia now officially bought by Observer Capital’s Joseph Meyer

It was quite well-known news that Investcorp was interested in selling SourceMedia and has now finally found a suitable buyer. SourceMedia is an Investcorp company and an efficient provider of news, researches and analyses regarding the field of financial services and other related services. SourceMedia is also the proud publisher of highly admired publications American Banker and Bond Buyer. According to news, the buyer is Observer Capital and the investor Joseph Meyer. Observer Capital originates from New York and the company is a new privately owned equity organization. Specifications concerning the financial understanding between the two parties are yet to be disclosed.

Joseph Meyer previously worked as an investment professional at Elliott Associates, MSD Capital and was given the designation of CEO of Observer Media in January 2013. The Observer Media publishes the New York Observer which is a weekly newspaper and deals in other publications as well. It is owned by Joseph Meyer’s brother-in-law Jared Kushner. During the previous year, Joseph Meyer formed his own private equity firm, the Observer Capital, which aims to focus on private equity and specific issues within the sectors of financial services as well as media related controversies. Although he still works at Observer Media, his major efforts and concentration are directed at the Observer Capital, which is still quite new in the market and is also going through a phase of progression from print to digital. Joseph Meyer greatly hopes to benefit from the purchase of SourceMedia.

Investcorp had initially bought SourceMedia in 2004 from Thomson Financial (who went by the name of Thomson Reuters at that time) for a price of $350 million. SourceMedia was then a data as well as publishing business and Investcorp divided the two departments, sold the one concerning data (titled Accuity) to Reed Elsevier for an estimated price of $530 million and kept the publishing portion. However, Investcorp was also engaged in hiring bankers to sell the publishing half as well for a price within the range of $50-$60 million but did not succeed in accomplishing it.

When talking about this new understanding between the two parties, Joseph Meyer was not very keen on answering any queries regarding Investcorp or any decisions they may have made concerning their business. He only mentioned that he thought some of the prominent media companies were escaping the deep niche coverage that deals with the people in the industries. Consequently, the businesses are more widespread and the financial investors benefit quite a lot, but individually, everyone seems to know very less about their communities or associated interests. When asked, Joseph Meyer also did not explicitly state the magnitude of the deal that was being talked about or how huge a deal the Observer Capital could afford considering they were still an infant in the business world. All Joseph Meyer had to say for this was that it was all a ‘flexible’ deal. To date, the Observer Capital owes its earning essentially to people, businesses or families that have an expensive net-worth.