As far as I can tell, Reed Business Information is the largest B2B media company in the US: by ad pages and by revenue ($1.9 billion in revenue in 2007 with $562 million in profit…nice margins, ma’am).

So, my first thought is, who is going to pony up $4 billion for what Reed-Elsevier calls in its earnings report a business that is exposed to the advertising market’s cyclicality.  We all know that the credit market isn’t looking so favorable for large deals.  Will RBI be sold in pieces?  I have a feeling that there will be some small divestments and that most of it will then be sold in a larger deal.  I imagine that when this deal actually happens, the credit markets will be different, and hopefully more favorable.  I also wonder about Reed’s BuyerZone, a lead generation business that RBI bought at the end of 2006.  According to an interview I did with RBI CEO Tad Smith in 2006, BuyerZone was to be run as an independent lead gen business with access to RBI’s resources and verticals.  I wonder if breaking Reed apart significantly devalues this piece of the puzzle.

More as information comes in.

And, if you haven’t already read this, Sir Crispin Davis, Reed Elsevier’s CEO said this in the 2007 earnings report:

“The sale of Harcourt Education has moved us towards a more consistent, cohesive and synergistic business and today we have announced a further major step with the planned divestment of Reed Business Information (”RBI”). RBI is a well-managed high quality business as evidenced by the success of its online growth and the control of costs. Its advertising revenue model and the inherent cyclicality fit less well however with the subscription-based information and workflow solutions focus of Reed Elsevier’s strategy.”