MANAGED DECLINE: Storied Institutional Investor Shrivels into a Blog
Posted on 05/14/2021
Gilbert (Gil) Kaplan founded Institutional Investor as a publication dedicated to the institutional investor space. The flagship publication of London-based Euromoney Institutional Investor had significant influence, reporting on asset manager trends, hedge funds, pensions, and investment strategies. In March 2018, after 51 years and 588 issues, Euromoney Institutional Investor (parent company) decided to close down the printing of the magazine. Institutional Investor pivoted to being a digital publication (a blog). Earlier, the publication hired Kip McDaniel from Asset International (owner of Chief Investment Officer magazine), a smaller financial publication based out of New York, to try and turn things around.
Institutional Investor had a lucrative event membership business that helped support the various arms of the media business. COVID happened and impacted the global events industry. In March 2021, Diane Alfano, CEO of Institutional Investor disclosed plans to retire. Alfano was instrumental in building Institutional Investor’s membership business which sometimes charged high fees for managers to access investors. Fran Cashman was named CEO of the Asset Management Division of Euromoney Institutional Investor.
In April 2021, Kip McDaniel, editor-in-chief, and the magazine’s deputy editor, Leanna Orr, left Institutional Investor for London-based Pageant Media. Pageant Media is a known buyer of Institutional Investor’s subscription assets including iiSearches and Institutional Investor Journals.
Institutional Investor was possibly up for sale but now it lies in the newly restructured asset management group, sitting next to BCA Research and NDR Research.
