Contact Information: For more information please contact: Julie Taylor Guardian Press Office 0044 207 713 4087 Patrick Wallace Larkin Volpatt Communications 619-255-8025
Guardian News & Media to Buy ContentNext Media
| Source: ContentNext Media, Inc.
NEW YORK, NY--(Marketwire - July 11, 2008) - Guardian News & Media today announces a
significant expansion of its US presence with the acquisition of
ContentNext Media, the leading B2B media company which covers digital
media, the entertainment and technology sectors, and publishes the
influential paidContent.org.
Its founder and editor Rafat Ali, and CEO, Nathan Richardson, will continue
to run the company as a stand-alone business.
ContentNext, based in Santa Monica, California, and New York City, is an
online media hub delivering high-quality professional news, information and
analysis to executives in the media, entertainment & technology sectors.
Its publishing network comprises the flagship paidContent.org, providing
global coverage of the business of digital content; mocoNews.net, covering
the business of mobile content; paidContent:UK, focusing on the UK and
Europe; and contentSutra.com, covering India's digital content market. The
company also runs a complementary events business bringing together
business decision-makers and thought-leaders.
The move marks a major step in Guardian News & Media's expansion outside of
the UK. In the last nine months it has launched Guardian America, offering
news and comment to a US audience, and forged a new commercial relationship
with Reuters to sell advertising in the US. GNM, which publishes two
leading UK newspapers, The Guardian and The Observer, and the
guardian.co.uk network of websites, also owns a B2B division, Guardian
Professional, providing publications, events and conferences to
professional audiences in its core sectors of media, education, and the
public sector. ContentNext will form part of the Guardian Professional
group.
Tim Brooks, Managing Director of Guardian News and Media, said: "We have
long been admirers of Rafat and the business he has built, which is an
indispensable resource for so many senior people in our industry. So we
are genuinely excited at the prospect of being able to help Rafat, Nathan
and the team take ContentNext to the next level."
ContentNext was founded in 2002 by Rafat Ali and funded by Greycroft
Partners in 2006.
Rafat Ali, the founder, said: "The Guardian's international reputation for
editorial integrity and digital innovation make it the perfect partner to
help ContentNext to grow its expanding platform."
Nathan Richardson, CEO of ContentNext, added: "The strategy and ambitions
of the Guardian are a terrific fit for ContentNext's plans to be the
leading digital publishing platform for news and information to the media,
entertainment and publishing industries."
"I have admired paidContent for years. Rafat and his team personify the
values of editorial independence and integrity that are core to the
Guardian. I'm very happy to welcome the company into the expanding Guardian
Media Group," commented Carolyn McCall, Chief Executive of Guardian Media
Group.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Notes to editors
Guardian News and Media (GNM) is the award winning publisher of the
Guardian and Observer newspapers and guardian.co.uk.
Founded in 1821 the Guardian has a long history of editorial and political
independence. The Observer is the oldest Sunday paper in the world,
founded in 1791 and was acquired by GNM in 1993. GNM's network of websites
launched in 1999 and Guardian.co.uk is now the UK's most popular newspaper
website. For three consecutive years Guardian.co.uk has been voted the best
newspaper on the web at the Webby Awards. The site recorded traffic of
18,323,824 monthly unique users in May 08 and maintained its market leading
position in the UK with 7,664,856 unique users (audited by ABCe), the
highest-ever monthly user figure for a UK newspaper site. In the same
month it attracted 4,977,591 unique users from the US.
Guardian America, a section of the site tailored for its audience in the US
and edited from Washington can be found at guardian.co.uk/America.
Unlike most media organisations which are owned by a proprietor or group of
shareholders, the Guardian is owned by the Scott Trust, a unique form of
media ownership in the UK, which secures the continuity and editorial
independence of the Guardian, Observer and guardian.co.uk.
Guardian News & Media Limited is a division of Guardian Media Group plc,
one of the UK's leading multimedia companies (www.gmgplc.co.uk). Its
diverse portfolio also includes:
GMG Regional Media: the Manchester Evening News and its website, other
regional newspapers in the North West and South of England, and the Channel
M city TV station.
GMG Radio: a number of regional radio stations across the UK under the Real
Radio, Smooth Radio, Century Radio and Rock Radio brands.
GMG Property Services: Vebra, Core Systems and CFP, providers of software
to independent estate agents, and thinkproperty.com, the consumer-facing
portal.
Trader Media Group: one of Europe's largest specialist print and online
media companies, and publisher of the Auto Trader magazine and website.
Trader Media Group is jointly owned by GMG and Apax Partners.
Emap Communications: the B2B publishing, events and information business,
also jointly owned by GMG and Apax Partners. www.gmgplc.co.uk.