In Memoriam: Arthur (Otts) E. Davis, III My fond encounters over the years with Otts Davis were both public and private. He was a quiet man, a gentleman, yet passionate about the things he loved; and those were many.

Co-Owner since 1967 of Chase, Fitzgerald & Co., Inc., and Industry Member of the Maryland Real Estate Commission, Otts was the consummate professional. His ubiquitous charm and gift of discretion could deflect any angst usually related to a real estate transaction. His mantra from his web site read, “It’s not work if it’s what you love to do”.

Otts was a passionate supporter (class of “61) of Gilman School in Baltimore. A popular member at the Elkridge Club, Otts was an avid golfer and familiar face in the dining room with his wife and high school sweetheart, Melinda.

Otts loved Baltimore. He had a public persona which came to the forefront with his early commitment to the resurrection of The Baltimore City Chamber of Commerce. His diplomacy and steadfast commitment to the ideals of the chamber were profound.

Otts Davis, the public and the private, will be memorialized by his many friends and associates in Baltimore.

Labels: Baltimore, Baltimore City Chamber of Commerce

  10:22 PM •  2 Comments • Links to this post

WILL THE BALTIMORE SUN ELIMINATE THE BUSINESS SECTION? Business sections of local newspapers across the country are being dropped. The Winston-Salem Journal and The Akron Beacon Journal have both eliminated their business sections in the last couple of months.

Friday’s Baltimore Sun business section had 2 bylines and no advertisers. There was a half-page house ad for the Bee Movie which read:"Honey Just Got Funny".

Assuming that the Tribune sale gets through the FCC déjà vu fight over media ownership and is granted a temporary waiver to lift the "cross ownership" ban, the next issue will be managing the 8X+ EBITDA debt burden piled on top by Sam “the Gravedigger” Zell. A no-revenue section gobbling up newsprint seems destined for the morgue.

Prior to Zell’s extreme ESOP play, the business sections have faced the usual challenges – stock tables made irrelevant by online, 15 minute-delayed stock quotes, Craigslist's decimation of newspaper classifieds, changing news consumption habit, etc.

Some could argue that the death of the business section occurred in October 2005 when Bill Atkinson left the 4th estate for the web of Weber Shandwick. Atkinson’s was a trusted and analytical byline replaced by Bloomberg, AP and wire copy.

In most markets, the business journals will assume the monopoly mantle.But crabtown has nothing to worry about even if Sam nukes the business section. There is still The Daily Record, The Baltimore Business Journal, The Examiner, Smart CEO and citybizlist. Baltimore remains the most competitive local business news market outside of Manhattan.

Labels: Baltimore, local business news

  12:07 PM •  0 Comments • Links to this post

Gruner and the JMI Equity Gang Make “A Killing” on Sale of DoubleClick to Google for $3.1 B Friday the 13th brought some headline grabbing news to the Cross Keys venture gang of Harry Gruner and JMI Equity who purchased DoubleClick with Hellman & Friedman for $1.1 billion less than 2 years ago. The Wall Street Journal described the transaction in the rarified language as a “stunning change in valuation for the company”; another reference called it “a killing.”

Google decided to come in with a preemptive $3.1 billion bid for DoubleClick– a billion north of Gruner and Gang’s expectations just a month ago - 10x trailing revenues of $300 mililion for the financial aficionados. Microsoft was left deal-less in Seattle and, once again, thwarted in their efforts to enter the search and advertising arena dominated by Google.

Last December, the financial alchemy started with DoubleClick’s sale of its transaction processing services provider to Alliance Data Systems for $435 million. This isolated deal covered the original equity of $330 million put in 18 months earlier.

Hellman and Friedman’s Phillip Hammarskjöld described the DoubleClick deal, “This was heavy-duty business building that private equity does enormously well”.

So out of the carnage of the dot com IPO tech blowup, a Baltimore venture capitalist cum market timer has beat the herd on Wall Street in the public-to-private to where’s-the-exit stampede. Gruner and Gang’s next fund should easily add another comma, joining the league of New Enterprise Associates as another Baltimore billion dollar venture firm.

"I made my money by selling too soon."
Bernard Baruch (1870-1965) financier & economist

Labels: Baltimore, DoubleClick, Gruner, JMI Equity, Venture capital

  9:47 AM •  0 Comments • Links to this post