Compass Report--The State of M&A

BY HARRIS DEWESE

(Editor's Note: Harris DeWese is a principal at Compass Capital Partners and an author of the annual "Compass Report," the definitive source of information regarding printing industry merger and acquisition activity.)

Most of you are busy managing independent, privately held printing companies. Some of you lead large, public printing companies. A handful of you run a company you redefined as being in the "communications industry," though presses throb a few steps from your door. Others work to prepare an e-commerce printing Website for an IPO—occasionally dabbing saliva from their chins.