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Blackstone's Acquisition of Audiovisual Firm Shines a Spotlight on Event Production

Sean O'Neill photo
Sean O'Neill
PSAV

Photo Credit: Shown here is an example of how PSAV staged an event at Canada's Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel. PSAV has been acquired by Blackstone, the private equity firm. PSAV

Skift Take

Roll up, roll up, roll up! No, that's not a lyric from a song by either The Struts or Fitz and the Tantrums. That's instead the call of Blackstone, which has bought events tech provider PSAV with a likely plan of creating more roll-up mergers with similar vendors.

Microphones audience members toss to each other like a ball. Colorful LED wristbands that light up for attendee surveys. Interactive video walls that help conference-goers choose which session or workshop they most want to attend. These and other tools are offered by PSAV, an audiovisual event specialist, to help meetings and events organizers engage with their audiences. PSAV is used to having a backstage role. But it finds itself in the spotlight this month with the news it has been acquired by Blackstone, a private equity giant, on a bet that more and more hotels, universities, and others will abandon their internal event production services and outsource the work to specialists like PSAV. Blackston

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