PI 400 -- M&A Activity - Acquisitions Yield To Slow Economy

And I answer, "Smart Al saw the bus leaving, made a dash to catch it and was paid handsomely in 1999. You missed the bus."

"The 1999 Compass Report" reported nearly 190 deals for calendar 1998. "The 2000 Compass Report" reported a decline of nearly 30 percent to 131 deals for 1999. The year 2000, however, saw the number of deals slide to 44—a decline of 66 percent. This year, deals will drop to less than 20. This slide is a 90 percent decline in the number of printing industry transactions from 1998 through 2001.