| Industry | Information services and marketing solutions[buzzword] |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1904 |
| Founder | John Penton |
| Defunct | 2017 |
| Fate | Acquired by Informa |
| Headquarters | 1166 Avenue of the Americas, New York , United States |
Key people | Patrick Martell, Informa's Integration Officer for Penton |
| Products | |
Number of employees | 1200 |
| Website | penton |
Penton was an information services and marketing company.[2] The company's three largest revenue streams came from events, digital and marketing services.[3] Although Penton had a long history (see below) as a trade publisher, in 2015 it reported that 35 percent of its EBITDA derived from digital products, 54 percent from events, and 11 percent from print.[4] 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.[5] However, after the Penton/Prism merger, the company is now headquartered in New York City,[6] although it continues to maintain offices in Cleveland and other U.S. cities, with an employee base of approximately 1,350 people.[7]
Due to reduced advertising sales as customers shifted to digital media from print, Penton went through "pre-packaged" bankruptcy reorganization in 2010.[8][9]
On September 15, 2016, it was announced that Penton was to be bought by UK based company Informa for $1.56 billion.[10] The sale closed on November 2, 2016. Penton was integrated into Informa Business Intelligence in 2017.[11]
- ^ "BtoB Penton Media buys Farm Progress, boosts agricultural offerings" Ad Age, 13 November 2012
- ^ Bill Mickey, "Penton Launches New Data Solutions Division" Folio 24 March 2014
- ^ Bill Mickey, "Penton Rebrands Itself as Information Services Business." Folio, 11 November 2014.
- ^ "Investor Relations" penton.com, retrieved 20 February 2015.
- ^ "Penton Media," The Encyclopedia of Cleveland History. 2004; retrieved 2 January 2015.
- ^ About Penton. retrieved 30 December 2007.
- ^ Penton office locations retrieved 30 December 2007
- ^ "Penton Media gets bankruptcy plan OK, to exit soon. Archived 17 November 2015 at the Wayback Machine". Reuters. 5 March 2010.
- ^ Steve Smith, "Penton Emerges from Bankruptcy. Archived 18 January 2015 at the Wayback Machine". Min. 10 March 2010.
- ^ "Informa Acquires Penton for $1.56 Billion - Folio". 15 September 2016. Retrieved 19 September 2016.
- ^ "Informa.com – Informa Expands Business Intelligence Division with the Integration of Penton". Retrieved 8 December 2018.