Focusing on two of the world’s hottest emerging technologies, bitcoins and 3D printing, publicly traded Mediabistro announced last week that it was selling its editorial and e-commerce assets to PGM-MB Holdings, LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Prometheus Global Media, for $8 million. The assets being sold compose of the majority of services being offered by Mediabistro, and include the firm’s job board, education unit, blogs and website. Following the sale, Mediabistro will be putting its focus solely on its trade show operations, where the firm presents events in the Bitcoin , cryptocurrency, and 3D printing sector.
For bitcoins, the firm is known for its Inside Bitcoins events which have been hosted around the world, their latest in New York this past April, with conferences planned in Hong Kong, Melbourne, and Tel Aviv during this coming summer. In addition to the sale, which is expected to be completed during Q3 2014, Mediabistro announced that they are changing their name to Mecklermedia, subject to stockholder approval.
Commenting on the news, Alan M. Meckler, Chairman and CEO of Mediabistro stated in the company’s public statement that “The new Mecklermedia will be able to significantly reduce debt, add working capital and concentrate on being an international trade show company concentrating in the fields of Bitcoin, cryptocurrency and 3D Printing, which currently encompasses over 22 trade shows in 11 countries”.
A penny stock, shares of Mediabistro of opened higher last Thursday, at one point rising 31% above their pre-news levels. However, prices retreated, and by Friday, they had closed the week at $0.89, slightly below Wednesday’s pre-news price. Overall, following the news, Mediabistro will become one of the few publicly traded pure plays on bitcoins, which currently is composed primarily of penny stocks of precious metal mining stocks and failed technology companies that have pivoted to become bitcoin companies. However, in contrast to many of those stocks, Mediabistro’s fortunes are leveraged to an existing brand that is connected to both the bitcoin and 3D printing communities.
