Penske Media Acquires Indiewire

Penske Media Acquires Indiewire

NEW YORK, Jan. 19, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Penske Media Corporation (PMC) has acquired Indiewire.com, the critically acclaimed and foremost website for independent film and television, from SnagFilms, Inc. The purchase furthers Penske Media's ascendancy in the entertainment content and news businesses, joining PMC's leading entertainment brands that today include Variety Inc., Deadline Hollywood, TVLine.com, Hollywood Life, Gold Derby, Variety Insight, Bollywood Life, LA411, NY411, and Variety Latino (a joint venture with Univision).

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"Indiewire has a rich history as one of the early innovators in digital media--and I've long admired the company and its team's dedication to informing and breaking the most essential news in independent film," said PMC Chairman and CEO Jay Penske. "Bringing Indiewire into the PMC organization is an exciting opportunity to further ignite a pioneering brand while advancing its coverage of the TV industry, digital, and emerging OTT platforms."

Over the past two decades, Indiewire.com has evolved into an iconic brand and must-read online destination, attracting a loyal following of filmmakers, industry leaders and fans of independently-produced movies and TV content. Under its eight-year ownership by SnagFilms Inc., Chairman Ted Leonsis and CEO Rick Allen and their team have continued to grow Indiewire's reach and ascendance within the journalistic and creative communities.

"We are honored to have been Indiewire's stewards, and seen it grow nearly 30-fold, since 2008. After careful consideration of the ingredients that could make the next eight years and beyond even more impactful, we determined that Penske Media would provide the optimum home for Indiewire," said Allen. "Under Jay's leadership, Indiewire will now join the most powerful properties in entertainment and culture; we could not be more excited about its future."

Financial terms of the PMC acquisition from owner SnagFilms Inc. were not disclosed. Founded in 1996, Indiewire has been owned by SnagFilms Inc. since 2008.

Indiewire Editor-in-Chief Dana Harris said, "I couldn't be prouder of our team and what we've continued to build on the Indiewire brand that Eugene Hernandez spearheaded nearly 20 years ago. The opportunities offered by PMC are extraordinary and will allow us to grow and expand our unparalleled coverage of the best in film, television, and more."

Transaction Highlights:


-- The acquisition brings together two of the entertainment industry's
leading innovators in digital media and publishing.
-- The financial terms of the PMC acquisition of Indiewire from owner
SnagFilms Inc. were not disclosed.
-- This transaction follows Penske Media's purchase last year of Fairchild
Media (WWD, FN, M, Beauty Inc.) from Condé Nast.
-- Editor-in-Chief Dana Harris will continue to lead the editorial
operations of Indiewire and report to Jay Penske. Publisher James
Israel will continue to lead sales + marketing while reporting to both
Variety Publisher, Michelle Sobrino and Penske Media's Executive Vice
President of Strategy, George Grobar. And Indiewire's New York
operations will move into the PMC headquarters at 475 Fifth Avenue under
management of deputy editor Eric Kohn.
-- Under Penske Media's ownership, Indiewire will remain an independent,
dominant voice covering independent film, TV, and emerging OTT
platforms.
ABOUT PMC

Penske Media Corporation (PMC) is a leading digital media, publishing, and information services company that engages with audiences across the web, television, mobile, print and social media. PMC's owned and operated brands reach more than 170 million visitors monthly (comScore, 2015) and Penske Media was recently named one of the Top 100 Private Companies in the United States and North America. With the preeminence of its brands, PMC is one of the largest digital media companies in the world, publishing more than 20 digital media brands, including its India.com joint venture with ZEE TV in India and Variety Latino joint venture with Univision Communications Inc. PMC additionally owns and produces more than 80 annual events, summits, award shows and conferences while housing a dynamic research and emerging data business. As of 2016, PMC businesses include: PMC Studios, WWD, Variety Inc., Deadline.com, Fairchild Media, M, India.com, GoldDerby.com, FootwearNews.com, TVLine, CricketCountry.com, Hollywood Life, Beauty Inc, BGR, AwardsLine, Bollywood Life, BPB.in, LA411, NY411, Variety Insight, and Indiewire.com. The company is headquartered in New York, NY and Los Angeles, California with an additional 11 offices around the world. For more information, please visit www.PMC.com.

ABOUT INDIEWIRE

The leading news, information, and networking site for independent-content creators, the industry and fans. Indiewire launched on July 15, 1996 and is a two-time winner of the Webby Award for best entertainment website, Indiewire was lauded as a "must read" by Variety, branded the "online heartbeat of the world's independent film community" by Forbes, and dubbed "best indie crossroads" by film critic Roger Ebert. For more information, please visit www.Indiewire.com and follow the latest updates at @Indiewire on Twitter.

ABOUT SNAGFILMS

SnagFilms is an award-winning social video-viewing platform that offers entertainment lovers the tools to discover, watch and recommend a broad offering of free movies, TV series and shorts, all on demand and across mobile, set-top box and home entertainment devices. The Company's newest business unit, ViewLift, is a B2B platform service offering a complete end-to-end solution for creating, launching and monetizing video applications on every major digital device. SnagFilms, Inc. was named as one of Red Herring's 2013 Top-100 Technology Companies in North America and a finalist for a Webby as 2014's top entertainment site. The company's investors include founder Ted Leonsis, Steve and Jean Case, and leading VC firms, including Comcast Ventures, New Enterprise Associates, Revolution LLC, Clark Ventures, and Terry Semel's Windsor Media, among others.

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SOURCE Penske Media Corporation

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Photo:http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20150729/248997LOGO
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Penske Media Corporation

CONTACT: PMC Media: Lauren Gullion, +1 310-484-2540, press@pmc.com or Indiewire Media: Michelle Hamada, +1 917-289-7000, michelle@snagfilms.com

Web Site: http://www.indiewire.com


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