• Ad Age, Tuesday, November 7, 2006 11:46 AM

Media companies may be in the communications business, but it seems they are tired of talking to Wall Street. As digital upends old business models and analysts push Google and MySpace, going private is the emerging business trend for traditional media.

While the trends that drive companies to go public--or private--can be cyclical, what's new is private equity's ability to buy up bigger media brands. Recently, Clear Channel, Cablevision, the Los Angeles Times and The Boston Globe have all been targeted by private-equity buyers. And rumors now abound about Viacom, the New York Times Co. and Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia.

"We've bought high-quality companies in the shape of VNU and Univision. No one would have ever thought about buying these companies two to three years ago," says former Viacom CFO Richard Bressler, who joined private-equity fund Thomas H. Lee this year. "What's happening now is a great tsunami event. There is so much change going on in the world, driven by new technology and changes in consumer habits ... and that leads to depressed equity values."

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