By Phil Soar, co-founder of CloserStill Group and Chairman of Nineteen Group
In the space of just 8 weeks this summer, four of the ten largest exhibition groups in the world (excluding the Messen) have been sold – CloserStill, Emerald, Questex and Hyve.
This is unprecedented in the history of our industry – as are the sums of money involved. At $1.8bn, $1.8bn and $1.5bn these deals are, stunningly, three of the four largest ever achieved in the history of the exhibition industry.
There are various stories behind each of these sales. But there is the one common theme which has washed over the world of investment and private equity in the past nine months – and that is the effect of AI.
Three critical quotes you should read – from the leading financial press
Investor’s Chronicle (part of the FT), 10 February 2026
“AI fears turn events businesses into media safe havens – investors are treating in-person events as a defensive play.”
“If AI is about to make everything online cheaper, faster and harder to trust, an obvious countertrade may be the oldest in the book: meeting face-to-face. That idea helps explain one of last year’s market oddities. While the Stoxx 600 media sector was the index’s laggard, FTSE 100 events group Informa (INF) was the only stock to buck the trend.”
The Times Business, 3 June 2026 (reporting on the Hyve acquisition)
Hunter Philbrick of the buyers Hellman & Friedman said: “While artificial intelligence reshapes many sectors (I) believe that live events, where executives can meet in person, will be more valuable to businesses than ever.”
Wall Street Journal, 11 May 2026
“Context [on the Apollo deal to buy Emerald and Questex] … (shows) the rise of artificial intelligence is changing how people connect online and some believe in-person gatherings will become more valuable as a result. Live events screeched to a halt during the Covid-19 pandemic but bounced back coming out of it.”
“AI increases the value of face-to-face interaction because people need trusted environments to build relationships, effectively making AI a tailwind rather than a threat to trade shows.”
A long-awaited game changer for the trade show industry
We have tried for many years to get the Financial Times, The Economist, The Times etc to take trade shows seriously. Suddenly, almost out of nowhere, they are adding immense credibility to our story – because of AI.
The whole story is in the quotes.
In the past twelve months, private equity has become obsessed with AI. When you spend time talking to many investors, as I do, you recognise one overwhelming theme. Whenever they look at any possible investment, their first question is: “How is AI going to affect this business?” And if the answer is “a lot”, or “We just don’t know” then they shy away from buying.
Businesses like cement factories, or timber companies (and of course Anthropic and Nvidia) suddenly become attractive because AI is not a negative.
For trade shows, artificial intelligence is a tailwind
But there are a small number of industries for which AI is a tail wind, not a problem which cannot be assessed. The reason is simple. When people meet each other face-to-face, they know they are real. It is now assumed that, within a very short space of time, AI will make it impossible to know whether someone on the screen, or on a phone call, is an avatar or a real person.
And, all of a sudden, the financial press and the investment world have realised that our lovely, 800-year-old industry really will benefit from the AI world which is coming like an express train. And that is one, not the only one for sure, reason why we have suddenly seen an unprecedented avalanche of massive trade show acquisitions.
Read those three quotes. They tell the story of 2026.
Source: www.exhibitionworld.co.uk
Comments are closed.