Hearst Ventures Makes Equity Investment in Science Inc.

NEW YORK, NY--(Marketwire - Feb 15, 2013) - Hearst Ventures, a unit of Hearst Corporation, and Science Inc. today announced a minority equity investment by Hearst in Science Inc., a technology operating company specializing in the creation and rapid scaling of digital businesses. The joint announcement was made by Frank A. Bennack, Jr., CEO of Hearst Corporation; Scott Sassa, president, Hearst Entertainment & Syndication, the group that operates Hearst Ventures; and Michael Jones, CEO of Science. Financial terms of the investment were not disclosed.

Science creates, scales and acquires successful digital businesses by bringing together the best ideas, talent, resources and financing through a centralized platform. Science, which has already started 13 companies, focuses on developing new businesses, providing emerging startups with operational strategy and capital, and transforming later-stage Internet ventures with new talent and innovations. As part of the investment, George Kliavkoff, executive vice president and deputy group head of Hearst Entertainment & Syndication, will join the Science Board of Directors.

"Hearst is continually looking for smart investments that bring value and intelligence to the company -- our investment in Science does both," Bennack said. "We're excited to partner with Science to continue its trajectory of success, gain meaningful industry knowledge and utilize Science's platforms for current and future Hearst investments."

"Science has a broad suite of capabilities that allows it to quickly evaluate and accelerate ideas," Sassa said. "We plan on using Hearst assets to help Science portfolio companies and Science portfolio companies to help Hearst assets. Mike Jones and Science's co-founding team are excellent tech entrepreneurs who will bring important value and learnings to Hearst."

Science was founded by seasoned startup professionals in November 2011 with Series A funding from several marquee venture investors, including Eric Schmidt's Tomorrow Ventures, Rustic Canyon Partners, and White Star Capital. Science's Jones is a long-time digital entrepreneur and executive who most recently served as the CEO of Myspace and successfully sold that business for News Corp. Prior to Myspace, he had started and sold Userplane to AOL in 2006.

"Science's approach to business creation is to generate ideas internally, identify the most compelling entrepreneurs and disruptive startups, build and acquire the necessary products and team to support the winning ideas, and rapidly scale," Jones said. "This partnership with Hearst provides us working capital to incubate additional businesses and strategically positions us to deliver unparalleled services for today's most promising entrepreneurs. Hearst has a long history of innovating in media and technology, and the companies we work with can benefit from Hearst's diverse set of global businesses and vice versa."

About Science
Based in Santa Monica, Calif., Science Inc. is a technology studio that creates and acquires then scales successful digital businesses by bringing together the best ideas, talent, resources and financing through a centralized platform. Science focuses on three things: developing new businesses, providing emerging startups with operational strategy and capital, and transforming later-stage Internet ventures with new talent and innovation. The company has more than 13 investments with companies like DollarShaveClub, DogVacay, Ellie, Uncovet and others. More information about Science can be found at www.science-inc.com or @scienceinc.

About Entertainment & Syndication
Hearst Entertainment and Syndication, an operating group of Hearst Corporation, includes the Company's cable network partnerships, television programming activities, newspaper syndication and merchandise licensing operations, and ventures investments.

About Hearst Corporation
Hearst Corporation (www.hearst.com) is one of the nation's largest diversified media and information companies. Its major interests include ownership of 15 daily and 36 weekly newspapers, including the Houston Chronicle, San Francisco Chronicle, San Antonio Express-News and Albany Times Union; hundreds of magazines around the world, including Good Housekeeping, Cosmopolitan, ELLE and O, The Oprah Magazine; 29 television stations, which reach a combined 18 percent of U.S. viewers; ownership in leading cable networks, including Lifetime, A&E, HISTORY and ESPN; significant holdings in the automotive, electronic and medical/pharmaceutical industries; a 50 percent stake in the global ratings agency Fitch Group; Internet and marketing services businesses; television production; newspaper features distribution; and real estate. Follow us on Twitter @HearstCorp.