YEAR IN REVIEW - Is M&A Now DOA?

Nearly half a million visitors made the pilgrimage to Dusseldorf, Germany, for DRUPA 2000 in May. When September rolled around, about 47,000 customers wandered into Chicago for Graph Expo and Converting Expo 2000 and wore out their check books.

And while the consolidation hurricane may have been downgraded to a tropical storm, commercial printers weren’t bashful about adding new presses, plant additions and even entire new facilities—it was a year of unabashed spending. It must have been the euphoria over not having to tap into the Y2K disaster relief funds. And yes, on January 1, 2000, the elevators worked, planes remained in the sky and microwaves didn’t take control over other household appliances. Nearly everyone passed the Y2K compliance test.