Tracked deals
10
10 tracked deals across 2002-2024.
Media & Entertainment Buyers & Acquisitions in Wisconsin
Buyer mix
Strategic-led
8 strategic · 2 pe
Top trend
Volume peaked in 2023
2 tracked deals announced in 2023.
Buyer Snapshot
Top Buyers
Illustrative buyers pulled from tracked transactions on this page. This table is capped and intentionally non-exhaustive.
| Buyer | # Deals | Focus | Type |
|---|---|---|---|
| Boyne Capital | 1 | Florida-based private equity firm focused on lower middle... | PE |
| Catalyst Communications Network | 1 | Emerging communications and media company focused on digi... | Strategic |
| Francisco Partners | 1 | Global private equity firm specializing in investments in... | PE |
| Gambling.com Group Limited | 1 | Digital media and player-acquisition services provider fo... | Strategic |
| Meliora Group, LLC | 1 | Woman‑owned Virginia-based publishing company publishing ... | Strategic |
| Muse Group | 1 | Music-technology company operating digital products and c... | Strategic |
| Reader's Digest Association Inc. | 1 | Publisher of Reader's Digest and related books/home-enter... | Strategic |
| TRS Capital | 1 | Early-stage investment company providing funding and cons... | Investor |
| VNN | 1 | High school sports communications and media platform prov... | Strategic |
| Verbit | 1 | Provider of AI-driven transcription and captioning soluti... | Strategic |
Acquisition Volume in Media & Entertainment in Wisconsin by Year
Last 6 years
Supporting Data
Recent Transactions
-
June 19, 2024
- Buyer
- Meliora Group, LLC
- Target
- Cheese Reporter
- Seller
- Dick Groves
- Industry
- Media & Entertainment
- Location
- Wisconsin, United States
- Type
- Buyout
Meliora Group, a woman-owned Virginia-based publishing company, has acquired Cheese Reporter, a weekly trade newspaper serving the global dairy industry since 1876. The publication’s long-time owner Dick Groves sold the business but will remain as editor while Meliora plans to advance the title into the digital age and expand its trade-publishing portfolio.
-
- Buyer
- Francisco Partners, Muse Group
- Target
- Hal Leonard
- Industry
- Media & Entertainment
- Location
- Wisconsin, United States
- Type
- Growth capital
Francisco Partners has provided growth capital to back the combination of Muse Group and Hal Leonard, creating an expanded global music content and learning platform. Hal Leonard will join Muse Group while both firms retain their existing headquarters; the combined business will leverage Muse Group’s digital products (Ultimate Guitar, MuseScore, Audacity) and Hal Leonard’s extensive sheet-music catalog to accelerate product, content and education offerings.
-
- Buyer
- Catalyst Communications Network
- Target
- Heartland Communications Group
- Seller
- Heartland Communications Group
- Industry
- Media & Entertainment
- Location
- Wisconsin, United States
- Type
- Divestiture
Catalyst Communications Network (CCN) has acquired the assets of Heartland Communications Group (HCG), a publisher of classified listings and buyer directories serving the agriculture, construction and industrial markets. CCN will absorb the HCG team and continue operating under the Heartland name while bringing digital marketing and growth operations expertise to expand the business.
-
- Buyer
- Woodward Communications, Inc.
- Target
- Insight Publications, LLC, In Business (IBmadison)
- Seller
- Brian Rasmussen, Magna Publications, Inc.
- Industry
- Media & Entertainment
- Location
- Wisconsin, United States
- Type
- Buyout
Woodward Communications, Inc. has acquired Insight Publications, LLC (Appleton, WI) from owner Brian Rasmussen and purchased In Business (IBmadison) from Magna Publications, Inc. Both publications’ employees will remain with their businesses and management said the deals expand WCI’s regional publishing, digital and events capabilities across Wisconsin.
-
May 12, 2022
- Buyer
- Verbit
- Target
- U.S. Captioning Company
- Industry
- Media & Entertainment
- Location
- Wisconsin, United States
- Type
- Buyout
Verbit has acquired U.S. Captioning Company, a leading U.S. provider of closed captioning and real-time captioning services for national TV networks, producers and programmers, to expand its media vertical. The deal adds U.S. Captioning’s multi-language post-production and real-time captioning capabilities and its nationwide workforce of captioners to Verbit’s transcription and captioning platform, strengthening Verbit’s reach in media and broadcast accessibility.
-
December 13, 2021
- Buyer
- Gambling.com Group Limited
- Target
- Roto Sports, Inc. (RotoWire)
- Industry
- Media & Entertainment
- Location
- Wisconsin, United States
- Type
- Buyout
Gambling.com Group Limited agreed to acquire Roto Sports, Inc., operator of RotoWire, to accelerate the Group’s U.S. expansion and grow its sports betting-related affiliate revenue. The all‑transaction purchase price is $27.5 million (including $7.5 million deferred), with $20.0 million payable at closing and the remainder paid over the subsequent two years.
-
November 18, 2021
- Buyer
- TRS Capital
- Target
- RadPoker
- Industry
- Media & Entertainment
- Location
- Wisconsin, United States
- Type
- Growth capital
TRS Capital, an early-stage investment firm based in Fort Walton Beach, Florida, has made a significant seed investment in RadPoker, a mobile-optimized no-limit Texas Hold'em app led by CEO Nishon Rad. The funding and TRS’s consulting support are intended to accelerate RadPoker’s monetization timeline and support rapid user growth for the app, which averages roughly 4-minute heads-up games and features leaderboards and a custom rating algorithm.
-
October 27, 2020
- Buyer
- VNN
- Target
- Wisconsin Sports Network (WSN)
- Industry
- Media & Entertainment
- Location
- Wisconsin, United States
- Type
- Buyout
VNN, a leading high school sports communications platform, has acquired Wisconsin Sports Network (WSN), the publisher of wissports.net. The deal combines VNN's SportsHub platform with WSN's state-focused coverage to create vertically integrated, high-profile and hyper-local high school sports content across Wisconsin.
-
August 30, 2018
- Buyer
- Boyne Capital
- Target
- AC Business Media
- Seller
- Anil Narang, Carl Wistreich
- Industry
- Media & Entertainment
- Location
- Wisconsin, United States
- Type
- Buyout
Boyne Capital has partnered with management to acquire AC Business Media, a Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin–based business-to-business media and business intelligence company, purchasing a majority stake from prior owners Anil Narang and Carl Wistreich (who remain minority owners). Boyne will work with new CEO Barry Lovette and the existing management team to invest in products and capabilities and expand AC Business Media's audience across its portfolio of digital properties, trade shows, magazines, webinars and data-driven marketing offerings.
-
March 20, 2002
- Buyer
- Reader's Digest Association Inc.
- Target
- Reiman Publications LLC
- Seller
- Reiman senior management, Madison Dearborn Partners
- Industry
- Media & Entertainment
- Location
- Wisconsin, United States
- Type
- Buyout
Reader's Digest Association agreed to acquire Reiman Publications LLC from Reiman senior management and Madison Dearborn Partners for $760 million in cash. The acquisition adds Reiman's 12 bimonthly lifestyle and cooking magazines, a 16–32 million subscriber/database asset and about $300 million in annual revenue, which Reader's Digest said will expand its marketing channels and reinvigorate its core publishing and books/home-entertainment businesses.
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