The Year in Review: 2005

| MCM staff

There are two year-end traditions you can count on from the media: a review of the year that

Multichannel Retailers Acquire, Divest at Brisk Pace

| MCM staff

Now that multichannel retailing is well established, merger and acquisition activity is picking up markedly in the sector. According to Petsky Prunier LLC, an investment bank specializing in direct marketing deals, for the first nine months of 2005, M&As among marketing service, marketing technology, and multichannel marketer companies totaled 351 transactions and represented $38.5 billion in estimated transaction value. The nine-month transaction dollar volume is a record, up 66% from the same period last year. This period was also characterized by larger transactions: The median direct marketing industry transaction during year-to-date 2005 was $18.5 million, up 85% from $10 million during the same period in 2004.

Experian Buys a Shopper

| Brian Quinton

The parent company of Experian went shopping for a comparison shopping engine this holiday season and apparently found a bargain. British retail and business services provider GUS announced last week that its Experian division has bought PriceGrabber.com for $485 million.

Answers.com Offers Just the Facts

| Brian Quinton

In the latest nod to the power of the Web community, Yahoo! last week launched Yahoo! Answers, a service in which seekers can pose questions that are too complex for simple search engines and get their answers from actual human beings

MOMS Catalog Sold to HDIS

| Mark Del Franco

Privately held Olivette, MO-based Home Delivery Incontinent Supplies Co. (HDIS) has acquired Mail Order Medical Supply (MOMS).

Experian Grabs Comparison-Shopping Site

| Ken Magill

Experian has significantly added to its lead-referral arsenal with the acquisition of comparison-shopping site PriceGrabber.com.

SkyMall Sold for $52 Million

| Mark Del Franco

In-flight co-op cataloger SkyMall has been sold by GemStar-TV Guide to Spire Capital and ZelnickMedia Corp. for $52 million. The transaction closed on Dec. 1

Out of service

| Rama Ramaswami

When customer service pundit Ron Willingham decided to buy a TV set, he expected the process to be fairly straightforward. As head of Integrity Systems,

Spiegel parent buys two more

| Mark Del Franco

San Francisco-based Golden Gate Capital Corp. is well on the way to becoming a major player on the women’s apparel catalog scene. The private equity firm,