TheStreet Buys The Deal for $5.8M to Improve Content, Add Subscribers

Financial publication TheStreet (NYSE:TST) has agreed to buy rival The Deal for $5.8 million in cash, a move that expands its content and institutional subscribers.

TheStreet, which poached the M&A publication from private equity firm Wasserstein on Wednesday, said the addition of The Deal will add some 40,000 professionals to its subscriber base, including senior-level bankers, law firm partners, private equity partners and hedge fund managers, the company said.

The Deal “provides substantial predictable recurring revenue with high renewals and attractive margins that has continued to grow despite the deep cyclical downturn in the M&A market,” TheStreet said in a statement.

The upbeat view on the publication comes as print media continues to struggle to acquire advertising. The digital magazine, however, had transformed its business into a digital subscription platform, which helps it offset some of the cyclical declines.

The companies said their content-creation and marketing resources will be leveraged to increase revenues. For example, TheStreet’s buy-side newsroom content will be incorporated into The Deal Pipeline to accelerate sales to hedge funds. At the same time, The Deal Pipeline will be marketed across the entire network of TheStreet and TheStreet’s Chat-on-the-Street product will be added to the product set sold by The Deal’s enterprise sales force.

TheStreet said those “strategic and operational opportunities” combined with corporate synergies, will be accretive to its consolidated adjusted EBITDA.

"This is a terrific combination that grows the most profitable portion of our business, subscription revenues," TheStreet CEO Elisabeth DeMarse said in a statement. "The Deal is a prominent and well-respected brand that the market will intuitively associate with TheStreet.”

In connection with the purchase, TheStreet said in a securities filing that it has committed to a restructuring plan, which will include the termination of some of The Deal’s employees as well as other steps to reduce costs.

The Wall Street Journal, citing people close to the matter, reported that The Deal’s M&A Magazine will close as part of the plans and Deal Editor Robert Teitelman will leave the company.