Washington Post 2003 Annual Report Download - page 6

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Kaplan’s professional training and higher education
businesses (including online) have plenty of room to
grow through new programs and improved opera-
tions. Score and Test Prep will grow some, too.
But we will, of course, continue to look for acquisitions.
Jonathan Grayer, Andy Rosen and the Kaplan team
have consistently shown the ability to identify good
acquisition prospects at fair prices
and to integrate them into Kaplan’s
ongoing business.
Our acquisitions have focused on
Kaplan for several years. We would
love to buy more media companies,
but the prices of most such deals remain in the strato-
sphere (a pretty typical newspaper sold last year for 13
times the following year’s projected EBITDA). We are
interested in buying media companies from sellers who
care about the way their newspaper, magazine, TV sta-
tion or cable system is managed in the future. (If you
want to sell such a company and have a price in mind,
call me.) We almost never win media auctions.
In education, however, transactions were more common
and prices more typical of most American businesses.
Our largest purchase for the year, Financial Training
Company, moved us into the professional training
business in the U.K. FTC is a provider of training for
accounting and financial services professionals,
including preparation for the E.U. and U.K. equiva-
lents of the CPA exam. As the year went on, FTC
acquired a few other U.K. businesses, and at year-end
Kaplan acquired the Dublin Business School. Dublin is
a well-run college offering undergraduate and gradu-
ate degrees in business. Another meaningful acquisi-
tion, Transcender LLC, expands Kaplan Professional’s
offerings in online computer training, a field that is down
in the dumps now, but won’t be forever.
ur largest purchase for the year, Financial Training
Company, moved us into the professional training
business in the U.K.
O
04 The Washington Post Company