Emerald Holding Inc., the producer of the Outdoor Retailer shows, has acquired all assets of Lodestone Events, which produces the Overland Expo series of vehicle-based, adventure travel consumer shows. The acquisition supports Emerald and Lodestone’s shared mission to power connectivity, builds on Emerald’s decades of experience in outdoor recreation and represents its expansion into the growing business-to-consumer (B2C) event space.
All Lodestone employees will join the Emerald team, with Lodestone founders Lindsay Hubley and Jessica Kirchner joining Emerald’s management team and continuing to lead the Overland Expo series. The team will also oversee Emerald’s previously announced Outdoor Adventure X show, Emerald’s consumer lifestyle event for the outdoor recreation enthusiast. Outdoor Adventure X is scheduled to take place June 17-18, at Snowbasin Resort in Huntsville, Utah, the weekend before the Outdoor Retailer’s business-to-business (B2B) summer show in Salt Lake City.
The acquisition of the Overland Expo event series and daily digital content is an important step in Emerald’s portfolio optimization strategy, as it strengthens the company’s position in high-growth markets and expands further into consumer events.
“Formally entering the B2C event space is paramount to Emerald’s corporate strategy of expanding into new and high-growth markets to accelerate top-line growth and unlock significant value for shareholders,” said Hervé Sedky (pictured), President & CEO of Emerald. “Adding a best-in-class consumer event series like Overland Expo demonstrates our successful implementation of this strategy and provides Emerald with talented leaders in this space, who together will enable us to continue to advance Emerald’s core services of live event connections, content, and commerce.”
Sedky added, “Emerald and Lodestone Events have been working together for the past year to bring Outdoor Adventure X to market, and we look forward to building on this collaboration and creating even greater value for the entire outdoor industry ecosystem, from manufacturer to retailer, to consumer.”
For more information, visit emeraldx.com or go to www.overlandexpo.com.
In the meantime, Emerald’s Outdoor Retailer Snow Show opened Tuesday and runs through Thursday at the Salt Palace Convention Center in Salt Lake City. Visit outdoorretailer.com for more information.
