Heavy Reading and Pyramid Research find new owners, new investment

Without seeming to attract a great deal of attention, two analyst firms, Heavy Reading and Pyramid Research, have recently got new owners.  

Both companies - which are telecoms specialists - had been owned by UBM.

Heavy Reading is the analyst arm of Light Reading which has been bought back by Stephen Saunders, one of Light Reading's original founders. UBM will retain a significant minority stake in the business. Neither the sale price nor the size of the retained shareholding were disclosed. UBM had owned Light Reading since 2005 when it bought the company for $27m 

Read this piece from Light Reading to find out more about Stephen’s plans, which include adding new analysts.  If you take a look at the full story, you will also find an explanation from Paul Miller, CEO of UBM Tech, about why the company is retaining a share.

Also worth checking out is an article in Folio magazine which explains that UBM sold Light Reading because "it did not offer big enough opportunities going forward."  The author, Bill Mickey, includes more information he got from UBM as well as Stephen Saunders.

Meanwhile, Pyramid Research has been acquired by Progressive Digital Media for $3.3 million in cash. 

  

Simon Pyper, chief executive of Progressive, said: "Pyramid has a well regarded brand name, a portfolio of high quality data assets and moreover, an expanding presence in some of the world’s fastest growing markets.”

UBM bought Pyramid Research in 2008 for $8 million..  

Pyramid is the second established IT analyst firm that Progressive has bought in recent years.  In 2012, it bought Kable, the UK public sector ICT specialist.