Earlier this year, entertainment industry publication Backstage bought live-music firm SonicBids for $15m – a deal funded by financial firm Guggenheim Partners. Now the latter is rolling both companies into an expanded Billboard Group, sitting them alongside the music industry magazine. Backstage boss John Amato will head the new division, with Billboard’s Bill Werde overseeing content across the brands. “I’m looking forward to working with a larger team to deliver the content and strategic thinking to expand this new portfolio in big ways,” says Werde in a statement. Billboard will expect some scrutiny of its editorial coverage of companies who might be perceived as rivals to SonicBids, of course. But this may not be the end of Guggenheim’s M&A activity for 2013. A separate report on Reuters claims the firm is advising TV/film streaming service Hulu on that company’s sale – but that it may also bid itself.
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