PRIMEDIA Provides Content, Distribution and Investment Capital to Strengthen Military.com
San Francisco, California -- Military.com, the online home for the military community, today announced a strategic investment by PRIMEDIA (NYSE: PRM), a leading media company. PRIMEDIA Ventures, PRIMEDIA's investment subsidiary, will provide investment capital to support marketing and operational activities. Under the partnership, Military.com will also receive content and advertising placement from PRIMEDIA's Enthusiast Group, which publishes such leading military history titles as America's Civil War, MHQ: The Quarterly Journal of Military History, Vietnam, and World War II.
Tom Rogers, PRIMEDIA Chairman and CEO, said, "This partnership plays to our strength as a leader in the history enthusiast market. PRIMEDIA is excited to work with Military.com in building one of the most significant communities on the Internet. PRIMEDIA's investment in Military.com is indicative of our overall strategy of leveraging PRIMEDIA content, distribution, and expertise in partnership with leading Internet companies with high growth potential."
Christopher Michel, Military.com CEO, declared, "This is an exciting partnership, one that provides historical context and high quality editorial content to the community at Military.com. PRIMEDIA will deliver thousands of historical articles, biographies, and photos to enrich our homepages for units, ships and squadrons with a rich tapestry of unique content. We also value PRIMEDIA's proven expertise in this market as we continue to serve the military audience."
Larry Philips, managing director of PRIMEDIA Ventures, who led the deal, commented, "This made sense to us on a pure financial investment basis because of Military.com's strong team, the large market opportunity, and the solid backing already behind the organization. In addition, we are bolstering the relationship by providing a broad licensing deal that gives Military.com users access to most of the major publications in the military arena."
About PRIMEDIA Inc.
PRIMEDIA Inc., with 1999 sales of $1.7 billion, is a targeted media company with print, video and Internet businesses focused on consumer and business-to-business audiences. The Company owns and operates more than 215 Web sites and other Internet properties. PRIMEDIA Ventures is a corporate venture fund subsidiary of PRIMEDIA Inc., with 11 portfolio companies. PRIMEDIA Ventures invests in early-stage Internet companies in such areas as: e-commerce services, B-to-B software applications, distance learning, and wireless applications.