Primedia

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Primedia Logo
Primedia Logo

Primedia Inc., NYSE: PRM, formerly known as K-III Communications, is a New York City-based mass media corporation. It is publicly owned, trading on the New York Stock Exchange, but private equity giant KKR holds a controlling stake in the company.

Primedia publishes over 200 magazines. Its leading titles include Fly Fisherman, Motor Trend, Automobile, and Wards. It also owns Channel One News. Primedia's major market segments include hobbyist magazines, consumer guides, business information, and education.

In the past few years, Primedia has undergone the sort of restructuring typical of many companies acquired by private equity firms such as KKR. Consumer magazines such as flagship titles Seventeen and New York have been sold to other publishers, as have other targeted content providers, such as About.com, which was sold in March 2005 to the New York Times Company.

Contents

[edit] Timeline

  • 1989 - Founded as K-III Communications.
  • 1989 - Acquired Intertec Publishing[1]
  • 1995 - Went public.
  • 1997 - Changed name to Primedia.
  • 1998 - Controlling share acquired by KKR
  • 1998 - Replaced CEO William Reilly with Tom Rogers
  • 2000 - Acquired About.com for $690 million
  • 2001 - Acquired EMAP USA (Motor Trend, Teen, FHM and others) for $515 million
  • 2001 - Intertec renamed to Primedia Business Magazines & Media[1]
  • 2003 - Replaced CEO Tom Rogers with Kelly Conlin[2][3]
  • 2005 - Sold business information segment (ex-Intertec[4]) to private investors Wasserstein & Co.
  • 2006 - Sold Crafts Group to Sandler Capital Management and Outdoor Group to InterMedia
  • 2007 - Announced intent to sell Primedia Enthusiast Media division by end of Q2, 2007

[edit] Major Primedia Titles

as well as Automotive.com, Intellichoice.com web sites

[edit] Primedia Equine Group

[edit] Primedia Action Sports Group

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b Intertec becomes Primedia Business. RF Design (2001-07-27). Retrieved on February 16, 2007.
  2. ^ Naraine, Ryan (2003-04-17). Primedia CEO shown the door. Clickz News. Retrieved on August 3, 2005.
  3. ^ Gross, Daniel (2003-04-22). Sub-Primedia: Why KKR is having such a hard time fixing its magazine company. Slate. Retrieved on August 3, 2005.
  4. ^ Primedia Business Information Profile. Media Owners. Retrieved on February 16, 2007.


[edit] External links