Emerald Expositions Buys HOW Design Events from F+W Media

October 14, 2015

Emerald Expositions has acquired HOW Design Live and the HOW Interactive Design Conference series (“HOW Design Events”) from F+W Media, Inc., a Content and e-Commerce company, for an undisclosed sum.

HOW Design Live is the largest graphic design conference and expo in the nation, combining five separate conferences into a single event focused on creativity, business and inspiration for designers.

F+W’s retained HOW Media Brands, including HOW Magazine, Print Magazine and HOW University, will continue to work closely with Emerald’s HOW Design Events.

 “Our strategy of supplementing organic growth with tuck-in acquisitions of industry leading, high-quality businesses makes the decision to add HOW Design Events to the Emerald portfolio a natural one,” said David Loechner, Emerald’s CEO.

He added, “HOW is an institution in the graphic design industry and Emerald looks forward to continuing to deliver highly inspirational and educational events to this growing professional community.”

Gary Lynch, former vice president/community leader for the HOW Media Brands, now has been named vice president of Emerald Expositions.

“I expect Emerald’s acquisition of the HOW Design Events to benefit the graphic design market enormously,” Lynch said.

He added, “Each organization’s expertise and talent is perfectly suited for the product lines they will own and operate. The transition of HOW Design Events from F+W will be seamless and we are intent on delivering even more value to our customers as part of the Emerald organization.”

F+W’s Interim CEO, Jim Ogle, noted that for more than 20 years, F+W has been dedicated to providing its customers with the very best conferences for designers.

“We are confident the Emerald Expositions team will take these events to the next level, providing a best-in-class experience for attendees, partners, speakers, and exhibitors while staying true to the HOW brand promise,” he added.

 Corporate Solutions of Westport, Conn., was the exclusive advisor to F+W in arranging, structuring and negotiating this transaction. The financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

F+W sold another piece of its portfolio recently, World Tea Media, which included World Tea Expo, to Penton Media. 

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