UBM History

UBM: championing business media since 1843

UBM was originally incorporated in 1918 as United Newspapers Limited, changing its name to United News and Media in 1995. The business kept this name until 2000 when “United Business Media Plc” was formally adopted.

The history of the companies that now make up United Business Media stretches back almost two hundred years to the Journal of Commerce which was founded and first published by Samuel Morse - of Morse Code fame - in 1827. Today, the Journal of Commerce is produced in both print and digital formats by UBM Global Trade. UBM businesses still publish many other titles that were launched in the 19th century, including Building magazine, launched in 1843 by Joseph Hansom, as well as Chemist & Druggist.

Over the last thirty years, UBM has owned, bought and sold a wide range of media businesses, including broadcast television (Meridian, Anglia, HTV), market research (NOP) and newspapers (Express Newspapers). PR Newswire, established in 1954, was acquired in 1982; CMP Media was acquired in 1999 (and subsequently renamed CMP Technology); CMPMedica was formed from a series of acquisitions made during 2004 and 2005; and CMP Asia, now UBM Asia, was formally founded in 1994, although UBM had developed a substantial business in Asia over the course of the preceding decade. In 2006, UBM acquired Commonwealth Business Media, the leading information provider to the global trade and transportation market.

Over the course of the last several years UBM has reorganised three of its businesses - CMP Information, CMP Technology and Commonwealth Business Media - into a number of smaller, more agile businesses. This reorganisation process is designed to enable each new business to focus on meeting the changing needs of one - or a small number of - specific professional communities and markets. As a result of this progressive reorganisation, more than a dozen businesses now make up the focused international business information company that UBM is today.