Penton was an information services and marketing company. The company's three largest revenue streams came from events, digital and marketing services. Although Penton had a long history (see below) as a trade publisher, in 2015 it reported that 35 percent of its

EBITDA A company's earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (commonly abbreviated EBITDA, pronounced , , or ) is a measure of a company's profitability of the operating business only, thus before any effects of indebtedness, stat ...

derived from digital products, 54 percent from events, and 11 percent from print. The main industry segments served by Penton include agriculture, transportation, natural products/food, infrastructure, and design and manufacturing. The company was descended from Penton Publishing, founded by John Penton in Cleveland in 1904 to bring together production of several trade magazine titles, including ''Foundry'', which he had created in Detroit in 1892. However, after the Penton/Prism merger, the company is now headquartered in New York City, although it continues to maintain offices in Cleveland and other U.S. cities, with an employee base of approximately 1,350 people. Due to reduced advertising sales as customers shifted to digital media from print, Penton went through "pre-packaged" bankruptcy reorganization in 2010. On September 15, 2016 it was announced that Penton was to be bought by UK based company

Informa Informa plc is a British publishing, business intelligence, and exhibitions group based in London, England. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. It has offices in 43 countries and around 11,000 ...

for $1.56 billion. The sale closed on November 2, 2016. Penton was integrated into Informa Business Intelligence in 2017.

Early history

Penton's history began with two Cleveland companies, Penton Publishing Co., founded by John A. Penton—an iron molder by trade—in 1904, and the Industrial Publishing Co. John Penton had been involved in publishing trade magazines since 1887, creating ''Foundry'' in Detroit (1892), and then the Iron and Steel Press Co in Cleveland (1901). In Cleveland, he also published ''The Iron Trade Review,'' which became ''

IndustryWeek ''IndustryWeek'' (IW) is an American monthly trade publication founded in 1882. Content ''IndustryWeek'' is a trade publication and website owned by Endeavor Business Media. It is a business-to-business (B2B) service that produces print, e-media ...

''. By the 1920s, the company was a large business magazine publisher, for several years printing "Time" under contract. Between 1938 and 1945, Penton helped the United States Census establish the

Standard Industrial Classification The Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) was a system for classifying industries by a four-digit code as a method of standardizing industry classification for statistical purposes across agencies. Established in the United States in 1937, it ...

system, a digital coding system for industries. Penton was owned by

Pittway Pittway Corporation was a diversified holding company best known as a manufacturer and distributor of professional and consumer fire and burglar alarms. In 1962, Neison Harris became president, after having worked as an executive at Gillette, a ...

from 1976 to 1998.

Content

Penton's global headquarters was in the

Penton Media Building The AECOM Building, formerly known as the Penton Media Building, and the Bond Court Building, is a commercial high-rise building in Cleveland, Ohio. The building rises 253 feet (77 m) in Downtown Cleveland. It contains 21 floors, and was complet ...

Downtown Cleveland Downtown Cleveland is the central business district of Cleveland, Ohio. The economic and symbolic center of the city and the Cleveland-Akron-Canton, OH Combined Statistical Area, it is Cleveland's oldest district, with its Public Square laid out b ...

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

from 2000 to 2006. Numerous corporate acquisitions, sales, and mergers have occurred over the years. Wasserstein & Co. purchased Prism Business Media from

Primedia Primedia is a South African media group, headquartered in Sandton, Johannesburg. History Primedia was established in 1994 and its listing on the JSE Securities Exchange was completed in April 1995. Primedia remained listed on the JSE until 1 O ...

in August 2005 for $385 million. Prism Business Media was then merged when Wasserstein purchased Penton Media in November 2006 for $194 million. The combined entity took the Penton Media name, later dropping the "Media" part. After the merger, Penton became one of the largest B2B media companies in the world. In late 2010, Penton acquired '' Nation's Restaurant News''. In early 2011, Penton sold '' Mix'', ''

Electronic Musician ''Electronic Musician'' is a monthly magazine published by Future US featuring articles on synthesizers, music production and electronic musicians. History and profile ''Electronic Musician'' began as ''Polyphony'' magazine in 1975, publis ...

'', ''

Radio Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmit ...

'', and ''Sound & Video Contractor'' magazines to

NewBay Media NewBay Media, LLC was a magazine and website publisher founded in 2006 and headquartered in New York City. NewBay Media served five marketplaces — Music, Pro Audio/AV, Video & Broadcast, Consumer Electronics, and Education. In April 2018, Fu ...

. Also in 2011, Penton acquired EyeTraffic Media, an online marketing firm. This was Penton's first marketing services acquisition. Also in 2011, Penton acquired Nine Lives Media, an IT publisher with industry-related blogs. In 2012, Penton acquired Highline LP of the United Kingdom, adding to its digital aviation business. and Penton acquired Farm Progress from Fairfax Media Limited of Sydney, Australia, expanded its agriculture sector becoming the lead in agriculture information and marketing solutions. Additionally in 2012, Penton's Technology Media Group went all digital. In the same year, David Kieselstein became CEO and was tasked with broadening Penton's digital solutions, entering new industry sectors, and exploring growth markets. In April 2013, Penton acquired myITforum.com, an online community for Microsoft Management professionals. In the same month, Penton published the final issue of '' California Farmer'', California's oldest farm magazine. Stating that the magazine wasn't as profitable as its other publications, Penton merged it with another property, ''Western Farm Press''. In August 2013, Penton acquired ''

Aviation Week ''Aviation Week & Space Technology'', often abbreviated ''Aviation Week'' or ''AW&ST'', is the flagship magazine of the Aviation Week Network. The weekly magazine is available in print and online, reporting on the aerospace, defense and aviatio ...

'' from

McGraw Hill Financial S&P Global Inc. (prior to April 2016 McGraw Hill Financial, Inc., and prior to 2013 The McGraw–Hill Companies, Inc.) is an American Public company, publicly traded corporation headquartered in Manhattan, New York City. Its primary areas of busi ...

. In October 2013, Penton announced that ''Broadcast Engineering'' magazine would cease publication after 54 years. In January 2015, Penton acquired iNET Interactive, a Cincinnati-based event and digital information company, focused on the cloud computing, hosting and data center segments. Subsequent acquisitions include World Tea Media (producer of the World Tea Expo), MRO Network (an online media outlet for the global aviation

maintenance, repair, and operations The technical meaning of maintenance involves functional checks, servicing, repairing or replacing of necessary devices, equipment, machinery, building infrastructure, and supporting utilities in industrial, business, and residential install ...

community), and TU-Automotive (an automotive technology hub).

Data Solutions

Despite its long history as a trade publisher, in March 2014 Penton moved towards monetizing its large (then 16 million records) database to support marketing campaigns. In order to do so, it created the Penton SmartReach division to sell subscriber data directly rather than through third-party list vendors. As of 2016, the database had grown to some 20 million records. Penton analyses publicly available data for customers in industry sectors including agriculture, transportation, food, design and manufacturing, and infrastructure. One of Penton's data solutions tools, NEXT Trend, for example, provides analysis for the natural products and food industry. In 2014, it predicted 50 percent growth by 2018 in the healthy, organic, and natural products market. NEXT Trend also makes data-based predictions about the market for specific ingredients, such as chia. NEXT Accelerator is an online community for natural product entrepreneurs. It has been described as "an online portal open to anyone building a natural products startup...with video content and reading materials, worksheets, legal templates and regulatory documents and supplier and vendor information that can help young companies start and grow." Members also have access to a vetted list of service providers such as packaging vendors, branding consultants, and attorneys with relevant experience. Govalytics captures and analyzes data generated by U.S. city and county governments for vendors marketing to municipalities. The company plans to expand coverage to the top 100

metropolitan statistical area In the United States, a metropolitan statistical area (MSA) is a geographical region with a relatively high population density at its core and close economic ties throughout the area. Such regions are neither legally Incorporated town, incorporate ...

Events

In addition to trade publishing and data solutions, Penton runs an events portfolio based on some of its media offerings, serving vendors and customers in the aviation, agriculture, and natural products segments. These include a series of

MRO conferences,; the Farm Progress show; and the Natural Products Expos.Mary McVean, "Natural Products Expo West harvests snacks, discusses labeling"
LA Times
' 14 March 2014; Chris Kilham, "New trends in natural products showcased at industry expo"
Fox News
' 12 March 2014

References

External links