• Adweek, Tuesday, September 22, 2009 9:49 PM

Parts of the media and entertainment business will remain attractive investment targets despite economic challenges, say private equity and venture capital execs. To woo investors, media companies need to continue to cut costs while investing in the future, says Bain Capital managing director Ian Loring, whose private-equity firm has stakes in Clear Channel and The Weather Channel.

Aileen Lee of VC firm Kleiner Perkins, says the financial crisis and recession have led to a shakeout in the venture space, which means fewer venture firms. She says social-media companies will remain key targets for VC players and that commerce and small transactions will become increasingly important for social-media firms.

Will private-equity firms ever be interested in big ad conglomerates? "Longer term, maybe," suggests Loring. "They do represent relatively diverse ways of playing the ad cycle and the ad industry," he says. Lee believes IPOs could make a comeback next year, allowing VC firms to exit investments. "Some healthy public offerings in 2010 will spur optimism," she says.

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