Private equity firm Blackstone has moved to acquire one of the oldest publishers of magazines for the tech industry. That publisher is the International Data Group (IDG), the owner of Computerworld, PC World, and TechHive among others.

• Blackstone will pay $1.3bn to buy IDG from its current owner, a fellow private equity firm but based in China. That firm is Oriental Rainbow, a subsidiary of China Oceanwide Holdings Group.

• Along with its media business, IDG also has strong data and research businesses and it seems that is Blackstone’s target for the purchase. Of course, legacy media businesses are generally on the decline so it doesn’t seem like Blackstone will be betting on IDG’s media business for growth.

• From its data business, IDG makes money from recurring subscriptions bringing in stable revenue. Such stability is an attraction to private equity firms like Blackstone that would often work their financial maneuvers to get value from their portfolio companies.

• With IDG, Blackstone is getting a business that has existed for a long 56 years. It was founded by the late Patrick McGovern whose family sold it to a Chinese firm a few years after he died in 2014. Now, the ownership is getting turned to Blackstone.

Photo: Blackstone CEO Stephen Schwarzman, credit: World Economic Forum, licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

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