Donnelley prints $1.3 billion for a deal

It's been a crazy ride for the print industry since Johannes Gutenberg invented modern printing in the 1400s.

So, it should be no surprise that many of the top companies in the industry have been around for a long time. R.R. Donnelley & Sons (NYSE:RRD), for example, was founded in 1864. Or take Banta Corp. (NYSE:BN). This company got its start in 1901.

Well, today, R.R. Donnelley agreed to shell out $1.3 billion for Banta. Last year, Banta generated about $1.54 billion in revenues. Banta also focuses on things like books and supply chain management.

But isn't the print industry dying because of the onslaught of the Internet? Maybe there is a reduction in media print. Yet, the fact remains that companies still print a lot of materials. In fact, with new regulations – such as Sarbanes-Oxley – there should be more demand for print. Also, industrialization in countries like China and India should be a catalyst.

Basically, R. R. Donnelly realized that it needs to consolidate the industry – cutting costs and adding new products.

And Wall Street agrees. While big deals like this tend to depress the stock price of the buyer, R. R. Donnelly's stock has held steady.

Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including the Complete M&A Handbook and operates InvestorOffering.com.