2019 was a particularly busy year in the M&A market for public relations firms, and, along several metrics, there was more to observe than at any point in recent history.
In fact, this upward trend of increasing M&A was already established in the beginning of 2020, with 19 publicly reported M&A transactions completed through the end of the first week of March. However, what a difference a few weeks can make. The COVID-19 pandemic, which has basically shut down economies worldwide, has resulted in a tremendous amount of uncertainty and has virtually grounded most M&A activity to a halt. With economist’s hopeful that a measurable recovery is possible once this crisis is resolved, the 2019 results are still instructive and can guide us once equilibrium returns.
For years, Davis & Gilbert has advised on acquisitions of public relations agencies, provided insight on trends in the M&A market and published data about acquisition activity. This year, we undertook to provide our first-ever Public Relations Industry M&A Activity Report. Based on publicly available material, the report provides an in-depth analysis of deals completed in 2019.