STATE OF THE INDUSTRY - Far from Dead

We believe that Wall Street's perception that commercial printing has a "black eye" has resulted entirely from the misadventures of a handful of public companies—the so-called consolidators. One company, Master Graphics, is in Chapter 11 bankruptcy. It acquired some 16 commercial printing companies between 1997 and 1999 before its losses led to loan defaults and forced lenders to seek relief. From the outset, the leadership of this company was consumed with building critical mass at any price and then failed to manage what had been acquired.