United News & Media

UBM plc is a global business-to-business (B2B) events organiser headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It has a long history as a multinational media company. Its current main focus is on B2B events, but its principal operations have included live media and business-to-business communications, marketing services and data provision, and it principally serves the technology, healthcare, trade and transport, ingredients and fashion industries. UBM is listed on the and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index.

The history of the companies that now make up UBM stretches back almost two hundred years. 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.

The company was founded in 1918 as United Newspapers by David Lloyd George to acquire the Daily Chronicle and Lloyd's Weekly Newspaper. In 1929, the company merged with Provincial Newspapers, an owner of regional papers in the north; the next year, it sold its national papers. The company continued for decades as a regional newspaper publisher, making acquisitions such as Yorkshire Post Newspapers in 1969.

It acquired PR Newswire in 1982. In 1985, it bought Express Newspapers and continued to publish the Daily Express for some 15 years. It changed its name to United News & Media in 1995, sold its regional papers in 1998, and bought CMP Media in 1999 for $920 million. In 2000, it sold the Daily Express to Richard Desmond and adopted the name of United Business Media. It went on to acquire Commonwealth Business Media for $152 million in 2006.

In 2008, UBM moved its tax headquarters to Ireland, but in 2012, the company announced its intent to move its tax base back to the United Kingdom. In 2012, PA Group, the parent company of the Press Association, sold its 50% stake in Canada Newswire to joint venture partner UBM for £30.1 million.