 | |
| Formerly | e5 Global Media |
|---|---|
| Company type | Subsidiary |
| Industry | Digital media,trade publications |
| Predecessor | Nielsen Business Media |
| Headquarters | , United States |
Area served | Worldwide |
Key people | Ross Levinsohn (CEO) |
| Brands | 279 |
| Services | 786 |
| Website | prometheusgm |
Prometheus Global Media was aNew York City–basedB2B media company. The company was formed in December 2009, whenNielsen Company sold its entertainment and media division to aprivate equity-backed group led by Pluribus Capital Management andGuggenheim Partners. Guggenheim acquired Pluribus's stake in the company in January 2013, giving it full ownership under the division of Guggenheim Digital Media.
The company owned and operated a number of majorentertainment industrytrade publications and their associated digital properties, includingAdweek,Backstage,Billboard,Film Journal International, andThe Hollywood Reporter.
On December 17, 2015, it was announced that Guggenheim would spin out its media properties to a group led by former executive Todd Boehly, known asEldridge Industries.
On December 10, 2009, the Nielsen Company announced that it would sell its Business Media division, which included brands such asAdweek,Billboard, andThe Hollywood Reporter, to a new company known as e5 Global Media; a joint venture betweenGuggenheim Partners and Pluribus Capital Management—a company led by James Finkelstein, Matthew Doull, and George Green. Two Nielsen properties,Editor & Publisher, andKirkus Reviews, were not included in the sale, and were to be shut down.[1]Editor & Publisher would instead be sold to the Duncan McIntosh Company,[2] andKirkus Reviews would be sold toHerbert Simon.[3] The company's first CEO wasRichard Beckman,[4] previously an executive and publisher at Condé Nast and Fairchild Publications,[5] and former publisher of magazinesGQ andVogue.[6] Beckman's career suffered a setback in 1999 following "some inappropriate behavior" resulting in injuries toVogue's West Coast advertising director Carol Matthews, while Beckman was Matthews' publisher at Condé Nast.[7]
Beckman's first major move was a re-launch ofThe Hollywood Reporter; with the hiring ofJanice Min, formerly ofUs Weekly, as editorial director,THR replaced its daily print publication with a weekly magazine, and performed a significant redesign to its website with an increased focus on breaking scoops. The new format was meant to compete against up-and-comingblogs focusing on industry news, such asDeadline Hollywood andTheWrap, along with its then-struggling rivalVariety. The changes had a significant impact on the publication's performance: by 2013, ad sales were up more than 50%, while traffic to the magazine's website had grown by 800%.[8][9] In October 2010, the company was renamed Prometheus Global Media; named after theGreek mythological figure, Beckman stated in an internal memo that the new name would "[carry] more weight and gravitas in the marketplace."[10]
In late 2011, Prometheus went through a number ofcost-cutting measures. In August 2011,Backstage was sold to a group of investors led by John Amato in a transaction funded by Guggenheim, and the following month, Prometheus laid off the staff responsible for theHollywood Creative Directory and announced it had sold the publication.[11][12][13]
In January 2013, Guggenheim Partners acquired the stake in Prometheus owned by Pluribus Capital, giving it full ownership; following the acquisition, formerYahoo! executiveRoss Levinsohn was named as CEO of the new Guggenheim Digital Media division, which would oversee Prometheus and other digital assets for Guggenheim companies (such asDick Clark Productions). In April 2013, Guggenheim re-acquiredBackstage (which had also acquired Sonicbids, a platform for allowing musicians to book gigs online) and made its CEO John Amato president of the Billboard Group—a new group consisting ofBillboard,Backstage, and Sonicbids.[14][15][16]
In a January 2014 restructuring, Levinsohn was shifted to a business development role and no longer directly manages the Prometheus properties. Additionally, the company was split into two operating groups; an Entertainment Group was formed by mergingThe Hollywood Reporter into the Billboard Group, with Janice Min becoming co-president andchief creative officer of the group alongside Amato. The remaining properties, consisting ofAdweek and Film Expo Group, are led by Jeff Wilbur.[15][17]
On May 29, 2014, Prometheus announced it would acquire the publishing assets ofMediabistro—a network of websites focusing on various aspects of themass media industry—which includes the media job listing siteMediabistro and its network of blogs such asAgencySpy,FishbowlNY,Lost Remote andTVNewser—for $8 million. The acquisition did not include Mediabistro's expo business, which were retained under the name Mecklermedia.[18][19] On January 13, 2015,Adweek and Film Expo Group were merged into Mediabistro to form a new Prometheus subsidiary, Mediabistro Holdings. At the same time, its blogs were re-launched under the new "Adweek Blog Network" banner, and all of Mediabistro's social media-oriented blogs were merged intoSocialTimes.[20]
In March 2015, Guggenheim Partners reported that its president Todd Boehly was exploring the possibility of forming his own company. A representative stated that such a company would "likely be harmonious with Guggenheim, especially since Todd's role for some time has been strategic and transaction-oriented, rather than working in or managing any of our day-to-day businesses."[21] On December 17, 2015, in response to losses across Guggenheim Partners, the company announced that it would spin out its media properties to a group led by Boehly, including the Hollywood Reporter-Billboard Media Group, Mediabistro, andDick Clark Productions, all under their existing leadership.[22][23][24] The resultant company is known asEldridge Industries.[25]