Penton Restructures; Company-Wide Hiring, Salary Freezes; New Online Division

Penton Media, the trade media company now owned by MidOcean Partners, Wasserstein & Co. and others, has done a major restructuring: firstly, it is forming an unnamed digital media division, and Prescott Shibles, who had been VP-new media for Penton and its predecessor, Prism Business Media, since 2003, heads the new unit, reporting to Penton CEO John French, reports Btobonline. The company is also launching a Penton Portfolio ad network, which sells remnant online advertising for Penton sites to non-endemic advertisers and expanding it by inviting other B2B publishers to join.

At the end of 2007, the company’s online revenue was north of $50 million and the department had grown to 123 people, it said.

Meanwhile, at the rest of the company, the picture is more dire: CEO French has called for salary and hiring freezes, and has launched a company-wide revenue reforecast for the remainder of 2008, reports Folio, citing an internal memo.

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