BZ Media LLC (www.bzmedia.com), a high-tech business-to-business media company, has sold its Software Test & Performance (ST&P) business unit to Redwood Collaborative Media, an integrated B2B media company dedicated to creating highly interactive and dynamic platforms for sharing knowledge, insights, and resources for professional communities. Terms of the transactions were not disclosed.
JEGI CLARITY (www.jegiclarity.com), the leading provider of independent investment banking services for media, information, marketing services and related technologies, represented BZ Media in this transaction and acted as its exclusive financial advisor.
ST&P serves the global software testing and performance community, reaching more than 55,000 IT professionals through a suite of products that provide information, education, training, and professional networking opportunities. The acquisition includes two leading industry events: Software Test & Performance Conference, the biannual premier technical conference for software testers and quality assurance managers; and the FutureTest Conference, an annual forum for top software test and QA executives from large companies. The Software Test & Performance Conference was founded in 2005, and will next be held March 31-April 2, 2009 in San Mateo, Calif. FutureTest debuted in February 2008; the next event is scheduled for February 24-25, 2009 in New York.
In addition to ST&P’s conferences, the acquisition includes Software Test & Performance, the industry’s leading magazine for software test and quality assurance professionals, and a complementary e-newsletter and online publication, Test & QA Report. Software Test & Performance magazine was launched in 2004 by BZ Media and reaches more than 25,000 software test and quality assurance managers, project leaders, and team leaders. The ST&P web site features white papers, webinars, and other online products and is a leading source of news and information for the software testing and QA profession.
“We are very happy to have the opportunity to serve this important group of IT professionals through this acquisition,” said Andrew Muns, President, Redwood Collaborative Media. “Software Test & Performance’s events, publications, and online offerings provide a valuable foundation of news and informative content. We are eager to build upon that foundation with new and enhanced offerings that will further enable community-building and the peer-to-peer knowledge sharing that is so vital to this profession.”
Ted Bahr, President and Co-Founder, BZ Media, said, “We’re delighted to be working with Redwood Collaborative Media on this transaction. We’re impressed with Redwood’s enthusiasm for the Software Test & Performance publications and events that we launched, and know that the software testing industry will be well served by its efforts, while BZ Media focuses on its core businesses serving the software development market.”
“I’m excited to be working with Redwood Collaborative Media,” said Edward J. Correia, editor of Software Test & Performance magazine and ST&P Conference chairman. “We will continue to provide the same high-quality content that the software testing and QA profession has come to expect from an industry leader. And, we’re working hard to find new and exciting ways to enhance our business to better serve our audience and grow our community.”