We learned that Group Nine Media’s blank-check company has gone public, readying it to carry out a “merger, capital stock exchange, asset acquisition, stock purchase, reorganization or similar business combination with one or more businesses or entities.”

Special purpose acquisition companies are in vogue. BuzzFeed has held discussions with at least one SPAC after acquiring HuffPost. But SPACs have been around for decades, check out Ronan Shields and Andrew Blustein’s piece about the buoyant IPO market. SPACs fully exploded in 2020 with record IPOs totaling more than $86 billion, according to the SPAC LUMAscape from LUMA Partners. 

As more money is released to mitigate against the worst effects of the pandemic, business owners are looking to make value buys. SPACs are a way of listing businesses quickly. 

There is capital but whether there are enough targetable assets is another question, analysts tell me, making everything seem just a little bit bubbly. All signals indicate more SPACs and consolidation to come in the next nine months.

Also, check out this piece from Rachel Winicov about the Guardian’s latest global and U.S. hires. The publisher is the latest to hire a diversity, equality and inclusion lead in the newsroom with Susan Smith Richardson. Read how this role is becoming a regular in other newsrooms.

On that note, our team works hard to bring you the latest information through good times and bad. Please support our journalism with an Adweek Pro Subscription.

Have a great weekend and thanks for reading. 

Lucinda

Lucinda.southern@adweek.com

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