Las Vegas — Diversified Communications has expanded its presence in the unmanned aerial systems market by acquiring the rival Drone World Expo from JD Events.
Diversified announced the deal Oct. 25 at the opening of its own drone show, Commercial UAV Expo Americas, in Las Vegas. Drone World will be folded into Commercial UAV Expo Americas beginning next fall.
“We continue to invest in the rapidly growing unmanned aerial systems (UAS) market,” said Ted Wirth, Diversified’s President and CEO. “Diversified launched Commercial UAV Expo in 2015 and has since launched Commercial UAV Expo Europe in Brussels. This acquisition is an exciting next step to further facilitate business opportunities for this industry.”
Lisa Murray, Director of Commercial UAV Expo, will oversee the combined show when it debuts Oct. 1-3, 2018 at the Westgate Resort & Casino in Las Vegas. “The acquisition of Drone World Expo by Diversified takes two leading commercial UAS events and unites them to form the largest commercial drone event in the market,” she said. “By coming together, we’ll be able to deliver more qualified buyers to vendors than if we had continued separately.”
The two competing shows had both taken place in October this year. The Commercial UAV Expo attracted 2,200 attendees and more than 150 exhibitors to the Westgate in Las Vegas while Drone World Expo at the San Jose Convention Center drew 2,900 attendees.
JD Events CEO Joel Davis said Commercial UAV Expo’s conference segment had gained an impressive head of steam among attendees who fit well with Drone World Expo’s presence in the general commercial drone arena. Drone World benefitted from a relationship with the Commercial Drone Alliance industry association that will continue with the Diversified team.
“The combination of these two unique audiences and exhibit floors into one mega event will be powerful and is just what this industry needs,” said Davis. “Commercial UAV Expo has emerged as the premier event serving this dynamic marketplace, and I am excited for Drone World Expo to unite with Commercial UAV Expo to form the largest and most important annual event in North America for commercial-end users of drone technology.”
Reach Ted Wirth at (207) 842-5500 or twirth@divcom.com; Lisa Murray at (207) 842-5500 or lmurray@divcom.com; Joel Davis at (203) 371-6322 or joel@jdevents.com
