Legal Tech Mergers continue despite the uncertain economy. The recent acquisitions of Fastcase and Casetext inspired me to “take the temperature” of legal information marketplace. Thomson Reuters acquisition of Casetext for the breathtaking $650M was completed on August 17, 2023
The Survey I gave information professionals the opportunity to provide feedback on legal information mergers in a survey which was open from July 11th to July 18th. Eighty-six law librarians/knowledge professionals responded to open-ended questions asking them to identify mergers that they thought had either successful or unsuccessful outcomes. Although the majority of responders work in private firms (84%), there were also responses from academic (10%) and government law librarians (6%).
Librarians have long memories, and I was delighted to be reminded of dozens of deals. Over 40 company and product acquisitions, both large and small covering the past 30 years were noted by the respondents. However, the mergers of the last 15 years dominated the survey.
A post on the best legal information mergers, ”Don’t Kill the Golden Goose- Survey on 30 years of Legal Publishing Mergers” was posted on Legal Tech Hub on August 2, 2023.
Today I am reporting on the mergers which readers regard as unsuccessful. I also solicited advice for companies to consider in future information product mergers. There were 75 responders who “voted” for the “worst mergers.”
Here are the top factors which made the acquisition unsuccessful in the eyes of respondents.
- Excessive price increases (24) 37%
- Tying products together (16) 22.5%
- Mismanaged integration and lost content usability (16) (22%)
- Ruined customer service, (15) 21%
- Ruined product 14 (20%)
Publishers Most Often Identified with Negative Outcomes.( Read the full article on Legal Tech Hub)
