A Tuesday Surprise

April 1, 2008

After the last few months of reading through the glum news of a dried up M&A market, it seems that deals have finally started flowing again. A quick scan of today’s headlines demonstrates a wide range of mid-market deals — many of which involve the most unlikely of alliances.

Time Out Chicago, for example, announced that the magazine has been acquired by Donald Trump. According to the news release, the magazine’s logo will now incorporate Trump’s “signature glitzy 'T' that adorns Trump’s properties.”

On a similar note, Jezebel.com, a women’s Web site that was launched by Gawker Media in May 2007, has been acquired by CondeNet, the digital media division of Conde Nast. Jezebel.com, which describes itself as “celebrity, fashion, and sex without the airbrushing,” espouses an irreverent tone that is at odds with the button-up culture of Conde Nast. It’s going to be an interesting post-merger integration.

If I hadn’t checked my calendar, I might have been among the sorry chumps who fell for today’s fake M&A announcements. But alas, as the calendars turned to April, I was prepared to second guess anything out of the ordinary — and yes, those announcements did turn out to be April Fool's Day jokes.

Time Out and Jezebel are only the tip of the iceberg. It seems every company that has ever entertained fantasies of being bought by a larger and more formidable competitor, or that has dreamed of acquiring a smaller, faster, and more relevant competitor, have all put the “news” of their dream merger on their corporate Web site or blog. In addition to our buddies at Time Out and Jezebel, it has also been reported that:

• TechCrunch acquired F*ckedCompany.com
• YouTube and Digg announced a merger between the two sites, which will result in the “YouDigg” service.
• Google and Virgin Airlines merge, creating “Virgle.”
• InfoWorld announced that the long-feuding Microsoft and Yahoo have finally agreed on a buyout price.
• Michael Mace, former chief competitive officer and VP of product planning at Palm, announced on his Web site that Google has acquired Sprint.
• Haberdasher Communications has acquired The Consumerist from Gawker Media, and will change the site’s name to The Conglomerist. (You'd think one April Fool’s prank would be enough from the Gawker family).
• Tribune Company, which was acquired last year by Chicago investor Sam Zell, has changed its name to ZellCoMediaEnterprises.

For the record, the vast majority of these announcements aren’t just untrue. They’re also infuriatingly not funny (save for the Tribune announcement). As my coworker grumbled after reading the umpteenth fake merger announcement of the day, “Don’t they understand that a punchline is an essential part of making a joke?”

At least the fake announcements seemed to breathe some life into the market, and for a brief second, that may have brought a smile to someone's face.