United Business Media Divides CMP Info Four Operations
If sticking different businesses together doesn’t make extra money, then maybe pulling them apart will. That appears to be the thinking at United Business Media; on Friday, it announced it was splitting CMP Technology (CMP) “into four new, market-focused businesses.” UBM maintained in its announcement< AHREF= http://www.unitedbusinessmedia.com/ubm/media/releases/2008/2008-02-29a/>press release of February 29, 2008</A> that the smaller more agile entities that result from the reorganization “will be well positioned to meet the changing needs of the professional communities and technology markets it serves.”
The four operations will be TechWeb, formerly CMP’s Business Technology Group, Everything Channel, which used to be CMP Channel; TechInsights, the new name of CMP’s Electronics Group; and Think Services, formerly CMP’s cumbersomely named Game, Dr. Dobb’s and International Customer Management Group.
Business analysts can talk about agility versus synergy, or “right-sizing” of operations, but the truth here is more likely a simple one. Back in June, CMP restructured under pressure from declining tech print ads, and it fired 200 people and shut down 3 magazines. About 3 months ago, CMP’S CEO Steve Weitzner left to run its international division and, then in January, he split for Ziff Davis, a heavy duty rival. It would appear no one wanted to run CMP as it was then set up (the company said when Weitzner moved out of the CEO job that a search for a successor had begun). Moreover, it looked like June’s restructuring hadn’t really taken.
CEO of UMB David Levin said Friday, “This is the next step in the strategic evolution of how we serve our technology market customers – and we’re doing it from a position of strength.” That may well be the case, but on the other hand, there is a rule in business that says if something ain’t broke, don’t fix it. So maybe it wasn’t all that fixed in the first place. Time will tell.
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