Little progress has been made in the six months since Direct Media Inc. and Paradysz Matera said that the companies would merge, but Direct Media chairman/founder David W. Florence said rumors in the list industry that the deal is dead are false.
“Strange as it may seem, we're still working on this merger,” Florence said. “It'll probably happen. I just don't know when.”
The proposed merger was announced in October as an equal partnership with a holding company owning the two companies. At that time, both sides said that the integration would be a slow process.
On Oct. 15, Jerry Schillinger resigned as Direct Media's CEO to make way for Paradysz Matera founder/CEO Chris Paradysz to take the helm as president after the merger. Paradysz has yet to take that role, and parts of the original merger plan are being reworked, Florence said.
“Right now with the exception of working together in a couple different areas, there really is no merger as of yet,” he said. “We're still very much in discussion, and we've got a couple things we have to get out of the way to proceed.”
Florence and Paradysz got together a month ago and intend to do so again soon. Yet Florence admitted that neither side was in a rush.
“It isn't a No. 1 priority with either one of us because neither company is broken, and in the meantime we're just kind of going along and doing our own thing,” he said.
Direct Media's offices are in Greenwich, CT, and Paradysz is headquartered in New York.
