Guardian News & Media to buy ContentNext Media

Congrats to Rafat and the team!

For Immediate Release

Guardian News & Media to buy ContentNext Media

NEW YORK, July 11, 2008—Guardian News & Media today announces a significant expansion of its US presence with the acquisition of ContentNext Media, the leading B2B media company which covers digital media, the entertainment and technology sectors, and publishes the influential paidContent.org.

Its founder and editor Rafat Ali, and CEO, Nathan Richardson, will continue to run the company as a stand-alone business.

ContentNext, based in Santa Monica, California, and New York City, is an online media hub delivering high-quality professional news, information and analysis to executives in the media, entertainment & technology sectors. Its publishing network comprises the flagship paidContent.org, providing global coverage of the business of digital content; mocoNews.net, covering the business of mobile content; paidContent:UK, focusing on the UK and Europe; and contentSutra.com, covering India’s digital content market. The company also runs a complementary events business bringing together business decision-makers and thought-leaders. More of the release after jump...

The move marks a major step in Guardian News & Media’s expansion outside of the UK. In the last nine months it has launched Guardian America, offering news and comment to a US audience, and forged a new commercial relationship with Reuters to sell advertising in the US. GNM, which publishes two leading UK newspapers, The Guardian and The Observer, and the guardian.co.uk network of websites, also owns a B2B division, Guardian Professional, providing publications, events and conferences to professional audiences in its core sectors of media, education, and the public sector. ContentNext will form part of the Guardian Professional group.

Tim Brooks, Managing Director of Guardian News and Media, said: “We have long been admirers of Rafat and the business he has built, which is an indispensable resource for so many senior people in our industry. So we are genuinely excited at the prospect of being able to help Rafat, Nathan and the team take ContentNext to the next level.”

ContentNext was founded in 2002 by Rafat Ali and funded by Greycroft Partners in 2006.

Rafat Ali, the founder, said: “The Guardian’s international reputation for editorial integrity and digital innovation make it the perfect partner to help ContentNext to grow its expanding platform.”

Nathan Richardson, CEO of ContentNext, added: “The strategy and ambitions of the Guardian are a terrific fit for ContentNext’s plans to be the leading digital publishing platform for news and information to the media, entertainment and publishing industries.”

“I have admired paidContent for years. Rafat and his team personify the values of editorial independence and integrity that are core to the Guardian. I’m very happy to welcome the company into the expanding Guardian Media Group,” commented Carolyn McCall, Chief Executive of Guardian Media Group.