The world’s 20 biggest exhibition organisers made a combined $11.7bn in 2025, around 14% more than the year before, according to Grant Thornton Stax’s annual Top 20 ranking, compiled by partner Florent Jarry and director David Lindsay.
Most of that growth came from one company. Informa’s exhibitions revenue rose by more than 30% to $3.7bn, largely thanks to its acquisition of Ascential’s assets, and it accounted for 65% of the $1.4bn rise across the Top 20. Informa now takes 32% of the group’s revenue, up from 27.5% a year earlier, and is more than twice the size of RX in second place. Without Informa, the rest of the Top 20 grew by less than 7%.
RX’s revenue was roughly flat at $1.6bn. Clarion moved back up to third, just ahead of Messe Frankfurt, after double-digit growth from its existing events. GL events made the biggest jump, from 15th to 11th, on a 40% rise in revenue, and Infopro Digital entered the ranking at 19th in place of IFEMA.
Shows that don’t run every year
The report notes that an annual ranking partly reflects which big shows happened to fall in that year. Messe München climbed to fifth on 28% growth, helped by Bauma, which runs every three years. Of the five organisers that didn’t grow, three had quieter years because their biggest shows run every other year. Taking 2024 and 2025 together, Messe Frankfurt would be third rather than Clarion.
More private equity money
Six of the Top 20 are now owned by private equity – Clarion, Hyve, Forge (formerly Emerald), CloserStill, Infopro Digital and Easyfairs – which is a record for the ranking, up from five in 2024 and four in 2023. Grant Thornton Stax says this group grew revenue by 11.4% last year, compared with 7.2% for institutionally owned organisers. Institutionally owned organisers’ share of Top 20 revenue has fallen from 36% in 2015 to 21%.
The firm estimates that close to $6bn has been invested in Top 20 organisers so far this year, through Hellman & Friedman’s purchase of Hyve, Apollo’s deal for Emerald and Questex (now merged as Forge), and Providence and Searchlight’s acquisition of CloserStill. It also points to speculation about what could happen at Comexposium, Easyfairs and Terrapinn over the next 12 to 18 months.
According to the report, suppliers are benefiting too, from stand builders to AV companies and destination management companies. It says investors are moving money towards face-to-face events and away from industries that are, or could be, hit by AI.
