Self-Portrait in a Convex Mirror: Writing about Your Own Acquisition

Given how often acquisitions have been the meat of my articles, it feels not a little odd to be writing about the subject on such a personal level.

Last week, Windhover – the publisher of this blog -- was acquired by Reed Elsevier. We'll be merging with its FDC Reports division, which publishes The Pink Sheet, among other industry newsletters.

I’m aware of the potential for self-delusion about the strategic rightness of deals and also aware that awareness is not in itself an antidote.

But – caveat emptor -- the fact is that, even seen in the convex mirror of self-interest, this deal makes sense. It gives us a chance to provide readers with an information platform stretching from daily and weekly news reporting to serious monthly analysis, informed by lots of data, on the Windhover side, about transactions, and, on the FDC side, clinical development. Windhover has long contemplated how to get into the news business that FDC publications like The Pink Sheet and The Gray Sheet have got down pat; and FDC into the kind of analysis I think we do pretty well at Windhover.

I don’t know the vast majority of my new colleagues from FDC, though I have of course long known the publications. And I know the kind of quality I’ll be working with—having lured into Windhover, back in 2005, the former president, the former editor in chief, and two other stellar FDC journalists – all four of whom, in addition to creating and running for us The RPM Report, have been prolific contributors to this Blog and to Windhover in general.

That said, there’s also no overlap between us. Along with its analytical publications, Windhover runs conferences, publishes market-research reports in the medical-device business, and puts out, IMHO, the world’s best database of industry transactions. FDC doesn’t do any of that– but does publish news-oriented newsletters in pharmaceuticals, medical devices, and OTC and consumer products—along with a stunningly compatible database of compounds in development.


The opportunity to put all of that onto a single electronic platform, to provide readers a seamless source of intelligence capable of informing a variety of decisions from a variety of points of view – financial, regulatory, commercial and scientific – is too appetizing to turn down.

Watch this space.