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Bobit Publishing Acquires Bill Communications Automotive Group

12 April 2000

Bobit Publishing Acquires Bill Communications Automotive Group; The Jordan, Edmiston Group Advises Bill Communications in Sale of Automotive Group Properties

    NEW YORK--April 12, 2000--The Jordan, Edmiston Group, Inc. (JEGI) today announced that New York City-based Bill Communications has sold its Automotive Group, which consists of three important B2B magazines serving the automotive aftermarket to Torrance, California-based Bobit Publishing Company. The Automotive Group includes Modern Tire Dealer, Auto Trim & Restyling News and Truck Accessory News magazines and related. Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.
    Based in Akron, Ohio, Modern Tire Dealer was founded in 1919 and is the most authoritative publication serving tire dealers and others allied to the field that account for most of the tire distribution and sales in the U.S. Auto Trim & Restyling News (ATRN), which was acquired by Shore-Varrone in 1991, and Truck Accessory News, spun off from ATRN in 1994, are based in Atlanta, GA and are both well-established titles. Bill Communications acquired Shore Varrone, Inc. in 1998.
    Bill Communications (www.vnuusa.com), is a leader in business communications, specializing in business magazines, demographic information and business conferences. Bill Communications is a unit of VNU-USA, Inc. a wholly-owned subsidiary of VNU N.V., a Netherlands-based media company. VNU is one of the world's leading publishing and information companies and has leading market positions in consumer magazines, directories and information services, business information, as well as educational publishing. Worldwide, VNU employs approximately 15,000 people and has annual revenues of more than EUR 2.8 billion.
    Bobit Publishing Company (www.bobit.com), is an international publisher providing superior communications in business-to-business media. In business for the past 38 years, Bobit Publishing Company publishes 17 titles including Automotive Fleet, Auto Rental News, Mobile Electronics, Limousine and Chauffeured Transportation, Metro and School Bus Fleet. In addition to magazines, Bobit Publishing Company also produces several trade shows including the Limousine and Chauffeured Transportation Show, BusCon, Conference of Automotive Remarketing 2000 (CAR'00) and the Car Rental Show.
    The Jordan, Edmiston Group, Inc. (www.jegi.com), is the premier New York City-based boutique investment bank dedicated to serving companies in the publishing, information, Internet and exposition industries. In 1999, Jordan, Edmiston completed 21 media industry mergers and acquisitions with an aggregate value of more than $500 million. The firm's clients includes leading international companies such as Daily Mail and General Trust, Dow Jones, Euromoney, The Hearst Corporation, Pearson, PRIMEDIA, Reed Elsevier and VNU.