John French is the CEO of Penton Media, Inc..
Penton Media is a global, diversified business-to-business media company. The company publishes over 100 specialized business magazines, produces trade show and conference events throughout the world, and provides a broad range of online media and custom marketing solutions to customers.
Penton Media is controlled by Wasserstein & Co., which purchased Penton in November 2006. The purchase price was $194.2 million plus the assumption of debt, valuing the deal at $530 million.
The "new" Penton Media includes the assets of a company briefly known as Prism Business Media, another Wasserstein company. Prism Business Media was formed in late 2005, when Wasserstein & Co. purchased Primedia Business Information from Primedia Inc..
Penton acquired New Hope Natural Media in May 1999, giving the company a leading presence in the fast-growing natural products industry. The business continues to operate under its widely-respected New Hope Natural Media brand and is based in Boulder, Colorado.
Penton bought Duke Communications International in September 2000, giving it a major presence in the information technology market. That business, with leading media brands serving the Windows and IBM operating platform market segments, operates as the Penton IT Media Group, and is based in Loveland, Colorado.
Penton's magazines have a total circulation of 3 million and about 60% of sales come from advertising. The company operates through offices in the US and the UK. Total company revenue in 2004 was $212.7 million.
