Carl Norton

Social networking sites can be fun but soon turn into "me, too" propositions, even from a business standpoint. Snapio.com has gone green in its marketing networking initiatives, but it's got nothing to do with environmental sustainability. It's a green that never goes out of style.

The Argus Press, one of the nation's top commercial printers and communication resource companies; and a division of Nationwide Graphics/ Premier Print Organization (NG/PPO), is proud to announce that Mike Ford has become President of The Argus Press in Niles, IL.

CHARLOTTE, NC—The former Master Graphics has new leadership, and now Premier Print Holdings is under the direction of two men who have become known in the consolidation game. Carl Norton has taken the helm as CEO at Premier Print Holdings as Calvin W. Aurand Jr. has left the company to pursue other interests. Jerry Hyde has been named president of the company. Norton and Hyde are the braintrust behind Nationwide Graphics which, like Premier Print Holdings, grew through acquisitions. Norton, Nationwide's chairman and CEO, and Hyde, vice chairman and senior vice president, have been contracted to pump new life into a company that emerged

BY CHRIS BAUER There was a time, not too long ago, that you could not pick up a graphic arts publication without going blind by the number of news items focused on Company A acquiring Company B, or Company C buying up the assets of Company D. Then along came the current state of the economy. Wall Street's time of living high on the hog appears to be over—at least for now. Today, you can hardly open a newspaper or watch the evening news without seeing Alan Greenspan, chairman of the Federal Reserve Board, ready to drop interest rates yet again to try to put a

BY ERIK CAGLE When history compares the years 1998 and 2000 in regard to consolidation in the printing industry, two starkly contrasting results will be evident to the naked eye. There really is no comparison, as the degree of major consolidation has slacked off dramatically. Perhaps it is more important to note that the state of the industry during 2000 was not all that dissimilar from 1998, at least not from close range. Hindsight may eventually offer greater perspective, but the fact of the matter is the economic condition alone did not cause M&A activity to take a back seat. Wall Street rubbed its

As the consolidation march pauses to take a breath, the sector's leaders are taking the time to prove to Wall Street that they can manage their new empires. BY CHRISTOPHER CORNELL About this time two years ago, the trade press were using metaphors like "juggernaut" and "tidal wave" to describe the actions of a half-dozen companies in the graphic arts industry, as they began an awe-inspiring crusade to consolidate one of North America's more fractured business sectors. Any metaphor that implied inevitability seemed appropriate. Announcements of new acquisitions came, at times, weekly; sometimes they even appeared daily. What a difference two years can make.