Future Network USA Announces Reorganization to Accompany Formation of Three New Publishing Divisions: Youth, Music & Tech, and Living
(October 11, 2005)
Brisbane, CA - Future Network USA, a leading publisher of cutting-edge games, action sports, computing and musician magazines, will undergo a major staff reorganization it was today announced by company president Jonathan Simpson-Bint. This reorganization accompanies the formation of three new publishing divisions, Youth (to include Games & Action Sports), Music & Tech, and Living (which will include Scrapbook Answers and the recently acquired Highbury titles – Women’s Health & Fitness, Do!, Decorating Spaces, and Pregnancy),
Effective immediately, Games publishing director Simon Whitcombe will oversee the newly formed Youth division and add Future’s Action Sports group, including Future Snowboarding, The Snowboard Journal, Skateboard Trade News, Snowboard Trade News and Skateboarding Buyer’s Guide, to his publishing responsibilities. Whitcombe will oversee growth in both groups and continue to create synergies between Future’s Games & Action Sports partners.
Music publishing director Steve Aaron will oversee the Music & Tech division and add Future’s Tech titles, Maximum PC and MacAddict, to his publishing duties with immediate effect. An industry veteran who has served prior stints with American Media, Inc. and Hachette-Filipacchi Media US, Inc., Aaron will continue his role as a strong sales leader for his entire portfolio.
In Future’s Living division, Kathleen Reilly will become associate publisher of the recently launched Scrapbook Answers, where she also served as the launch marketing manager. Prior to her work on Scrapbook Answers, Reilly oversaw the marketing for the Tech magazines. Reilly previously worked at Ladies’ Home Journal and George magazines.
Within the games group, three new roles were created:
• Andy Swanson was appointed to the newly created role of head of sales for the Games group. Swanson will oversee more than $20 million in advertising revenue. He was previously the publisher of the Games group.
• Rob Smith will shift to associate publisher of Official Xbox Magazine (OXM), the market-leading Xbox magazine. Smith has served as OXM’s editor-in-chief since March 2004, and was at the helm of PC Gamer for four years prior to that.
• Dan Morris will become the associate publisher of PC Gamer after serving as the magazine’s editor-in-chief for the past year and a half. Morris has been with Future for seven years, most recently as editor-in-chief of PC Gamer, the leading PC games magazine.
“This reorganization will allow us to take advantage of deeper revenue opportunities and increasing synergies across the markets in which we publish,” said Jonathan Simpson-Bint, president of Future Network USA. “We are committed to growing this company not only through launches and acquisitions, but also through a strategic and organic approach to management. Our new APs will be brand champions and have been mandated to explore new opportunities for each magazine both within and outside of their pages.”
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About Future Network USA
Future is the leading US publisher of cutting-edge games, computing, action sports and musician magazines, which sell in excess of 2.2 million copies per month. Future’s publications reach a young, active, affluent male audience and rank 12th among audited newsstand publishers in gross newsstand revenue. Its market-leading titles include Official Xbox Magazine, PSM: 100% Independent PlayStation 2 Magazine, PC Gamer, Maximum PC, MacAddict, Scrapbook Answers, Future Snowboarding Magazine, Snowboard Journal, Snowboard Trade News, Skateboard Trade News, Guitar World, Guitar One, Future Music, Guitar World Acoustic, Guitar World Bass, and Guitar World Legends. Future also publishes Cheat Planet.com, the fourth largest games information destination online, as well Next Generation, the leading US game industry trade news website.Future is based in the San Francisco Bay Area, with offices in New York, Los Angeles and San Diego.
(www.futurenetworkusa.com)
About Future plc
Future plc was founded in the UK in 1985. Today, it publishes over 150 special-interest consumer magazines worldwide with strong portfolios in the computing, games, music, sports, automotive, crafts and leisure sectors. It is the [sixth] fifth largest magazine publisher in the UK and last year was reported as being the fastest growing US magazine publisher at newsstand. Future employs 1,450 people in offices in the UK, US, Italy and France. Over 100 international editions of Future's magazines are also published under licence in 30 other countries across the world. The company is listed on the London Stock Exchange (symbol FUTR). For more information about Future plc visit www.futureplc.com.
