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With some B2B media giants hunkering down and divesting non-core assets, "this is a good time to acquire things," says former Aspen Marketing Group president/CEO Vitale, who was reported in last week's Advertising Age to have stepped down from Aspen last month to pursue "opportunities in B2B publishing." The former Cahners executive VP is no stranger to the magazine world, having paired with now-Ziff-Davis chairman/CEO Jim Dunning, onetime Hearst Magazines president Claeys Bahrenburg, and Willis Stein & Partners back in 1996 to orchestrate the $450M purchase of Petersen Publishing. However, due to differences with Dunning, Vitale wasn't present when, after about $350M in acquisitions, Peterson--now the for-sale Emap USA--was sold to Emap PLC in 1998 for a cool $1.4B. "Once you've been there (publishing), it's hard not to go back," notes Vitale. Claiming to have doubled Aspen's revenues (2001: $300M) during his three-year tenure, Vitale now plans to snatch up print properties/online sites/ live events with "solid footholds in their respective markets." The biggest obstacle--aside from financing in a down economy--will be "finding the right place to get started," he tells us. (Neil Vitale, 310/459-8549)