CHICAGO — Emerald announced its acquisition of This is Beyond, bringing its portfolio of seven B2B events in the experiential and luxury travel industry under its ownership. The deal is expected to close in Q2 of 2025, and helps Emerald deliver on its goals to diversify and optimize its portfolio to drive its strategic growth initiatives.
This is Beyond is known for its exclusive experiences and events that connect global tour operators, in-house travel managers and elite travel designers within the $1.3 trillion luxury travel market.
Trade Show Executive caught up with Hervé Sedky, CEO of Emerald, to gain more insights on the acquisition and how it plays into Emerald’s larger strategy of portfolio optimization and growth.
A Great Fit
Aligning with its strategy to invest in high-growth markets, This is Beyond produces events in the travel industry, but Sedky emphasized that while the events serve the travel industry, they are more in the category of “uber-luxury” events.
“The luxury sector is experiencing significant growth and demonstrates strong resilience to macroeconomic fluctuations, as the top 1% of consumers are less impacted by economic volatility. As a result, expanding this sector was of particular strategic importance to us,” Sedky said. “Equally crucial was the team, beginning with Serge’s (Dive, the founder) vision and approach to launches. This is Beyond initially launched with a single event, and by the time of our acquisition, the portfolio had expanded to seven. Their growth strategy is centered on launching in highly specialized segments of the luxury travel sector combined with our vision for growth made this a terrific marriage.”
The This is Beyond team’s passion and discipline for launches revealed a synergy with Emerald’s Xcelerator program.
“We identified numerous synergies in our perspectives on business growth and strategic execution,” Sedky noted. “In addition to acquiring a rapidly expanding enterprise, we will also integrate a team with a proven track record in successful event launches. They have already introduced several new launch concepts, which we will be developing and bringing to market together.”
New Additions
The seven events being brought into Emerald’s portfolio are:
- Do Not Disturb (Borgo Egnazia, Italy)
- Further East (Bali)
- LE Miami (Miami, Fla.)
- PURE Life Experiences (Morocco)
- Specialists in Entertainment Travel (New Orleans)
- We Are Africa (Cape Town, South Africa)
- We Are Africa North America (Sundance, Utah)
Acquistion Announcement Comes Amid Financial Results
The acquisition announcement was included in Emerald’s Fourth Quarter and Full Year Financial Results for 2024.
In 2024, Emerald reported revenues of $398.8 million, which is a 4.2% increase over 2023. The increase was credited to organic revenue growth and revenues from acquisitions, while the discontinuing of less profitable events served as an offset. Organic revenues were reported at $385.3 million for 2024, up 5.9% from 2023.
“There are some specific assets and events that don’t have growth profiles or the margins that is exciting for us to stay in, and therefore we did this cleanup work last year, and I think that helps us redefine the new Emerald,” Sedky said. “When you think about the new Emerald that has shed the non-growth, non-margin producing assets, plus you layer on these amazing growth assets to it, you start to redefine the Emerald portfolio. The key to a successful portfolio is diversification, and that is really the work that we’ve done.”
An example of this diversification that Sedky pointed out was growing Emerald’s revenue on a pro-forma basis in the luxury sector from 8% to 13%. On the flipside, the company has significantly reduced exposure to the gift and home sector, going from 24% a few years ago to just 12% of its revenue on a pro-forma basis.
Emerald also reported a net income of $2.2 million for 2024, a significant increase from the net loss of $8.2 million reported for 2023.
Looking to 2025, the trade show and event organizer is expecting revenues between $450-$460 million, Adjusted EBITDA between $120-$125 million. This includes the $40 million contribution to revenue and $15 million contribution to Adjusted EBITDA from the acquisitions — the agreement to acquire This is Beyond and the completion of the InsureTech Insights acquisition — announced during the results’ release.
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