PRIMEDIA Appoints Peter Horan President and CEO of About, Inc.
NEW YORK, Dec. 8 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- PRIMEDIA Inc. announced today the
appointment of Peter C. Horan as president and chief executive officer of About,
Inc., one of the Internet's largest sources for original content. Mr. Horan
(48) will be responsible for the strategic business development and management
of About.com's unique network of 450 topic-specific GuideSites, with more than
34.6 million monthly visitors, making it one of the most visited sites on the
Web. Mr. Horan will report directly to PRIMEDIA's CEO Kelly Conlin. He
succeeds former CEO and President, Bill Day, who has left the company.
Mr. Conlin stated: "Our goal was to find a successor who had built innovative
web marketing programs, had managed editorially-driven products and had
experience leading high performing teams. Peter brings all of this to the
organization as well as a commitment to realizing About.com's potential for
PRIMEDIA." Mr. Horan brings to About.com his extensive experience in both the advertising
and publishing industries. Prior to joining PRIMEDIA, he served as president
and chief executive office of DevX.Com, Inc, a web media company recently
acquired by Jupitermedia Corporation. He spent more than fifteen years in a
variety of senior account management roles at leading global advertising
agencies including BBDO and Ogilvy & Mather in San Francisco, Seattle and Los
Angeles. He created powerful advertising and branding strategies for Fortune
1000 financial services, travel, consumer services and technology businesses,
including Microsoft. Mr. Horan spent ten years at International Data Group, the
leading global technology media company, where he spearheaded relationships with
top advertisers on a worldwide basis and also served as Senior Vice President
and Publisher of Computerworld. In his three years at DevX, Mr. Horan guided
the site to its position as the most respected resource for computer
professionals developing software applications. He also created a solid
financial foundation for DevX through the execution of innovative web marketing
programs for major advertisers.
"This is an exciting opportunity to develop more and better opportunities for
About.com that will advance PRIMEDIA's overall strategy for delivering highly
relevant content to focused audiences," said Mr. Horan. "The recent partnership
formed with Google will accelerate the opportunity to be market leaders,
demonstrating online media's unique value to both users and marketers. We want
About.com to be the trusted source for the information people need to make
decisions that influence their quality of life -- such as family, home,
education and health -- and our unique editorial guides system allows us to
fulfill that mission by tapping the best experts for each topic across the
About.com network." Mr. Horan received a BA from Santa Clara University and earned an MBA from San
Francisco State University where he was selected as one of "Fifty Distinguished
Alumni". He continues to serve on the advisory boards for the School of
Business and Center for Electronic Business at San Francisco State University.
Mr. Conlin added: "As one of the founders of About.com, Bill Day has played an
important role in the growth of its business. We want to thank him for his
efforts to integrate About.com within PRIMEDIA and wish him well in the
future." About PRIMEDIA PRIMEDIA is the leading targeted media company in the United States, with
positions in consumer and business-to-business markets. Our properties deliver
content via print as well as video, the Internet and live events and offer
highly effective advertising and marketing solutions in some of the most sought
after niche markets. With 2002 sales from continuing businesses of $1.5
billion, PRIMEDIA is the #1 special interest magazine publisher in the U.S. with
more than 250 titles. Our well-known brands include Motor Trend, Automobile,
Fly Fisherman, Power & Motoryacht, Creating Keepsakes, Ward's Auto World,
Registered Rep, Snowboarder, Stereophile, Photographic and Folio. The company
is also the #1 publisher and distributor of free consumer guides, including
Apartment Guides. PRIMEDIA Television's leading brand is the Channel One
Network and About is one of the largest sources of original content on the
Internet. PRIMEDIA's stock symbol is NYSE: PRM.
Contacts: Jim Magrone (investors): 212-745-0634
Elliot Sloane (media): 212-446-1860
Whit Clay (media): 212-446-1864 DATASOURCE: PRIMEDIA Inc.
CONTACT: Jim Magrone (investors): +1-212-745-0634, , of PRIMEDIA; or Elliot Sloane (media): +1-212-446-1860, , or Whit Clay (media), +1-212-446-1864, , both for PRIMEDIA Web site: http://www.primedia.com/
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