EEX ceased to exist as a public company on July 14, 2026, when Apollo-managed funds closed their all-cash acquisition of Emerald Holding. Apollo itself had published the implied enterprise value in its May 11, 2026 announcement. The deal price, once set, has not moved since.
The price represented a 42.1% premium to the unaffected closing price on the trading day before the announcement. Measured against the 30-day volume weighted average over the same window, the premium was 36.7%. The process had been running for months before those numbers were set. It followed a board-led effort in which Onex, the controlling sponsor, consented to the merger in writing on the signing date, so no public vote was ever held.
The last year of public trading framed the debate. FY2025 revenue rose 16.2% on acquisitions worth roughly $195 million of cash. Adjusted EBITDA came in at $127.1 million, bought at a multiple far above what Emerald had historically paid for its own targets. Q1 2026 organic growth of 1.1% confirmed the organic engine was sputtering. The outcome is best read as a value extraction by the 93% stockholder and a portfolio repositioning by Apollo, not a disagreement about the events business's durability. The equity story is closed; the enterprise value question now belongs to the combined company.