Nov 08, 2014
Newscreating new joint venture enterprise
Terms of ACBJ’s investment in Leaders were not disclosed.
Leaders founder and chief executive officer James Worrall and chief operations officer Simon Lau, who together owned 100% of the London-based company, will spearhead the continued international expansion of Leaders as well as create a diversified portfolio across other industry sectors under the recently re-launched brand identity. Organic growth will be supplemented with additional acquisitions and investments in other aligned businesses.
Currently, Leaders’ five major international events in New York, London and Lisbon annually engage more than 3,000 pre-screened senior executives across the sport business and performance communities. Delegates represent more than 45 sports and come from 50 countries. In addition to the five international events, Leaders produces custom events for prominent clients such as the National Football League, National Basketball Association and Ultimate Fighting Championship. Leaders recently launched an ‘Insight’ division aimed at delivering thought leadership content year-round through the recently re-launched website www.leadersinsport.com, the acclaimed ‘Performance’ print journal and ‘The Leader’ e mail newsletters.
ACBJ is a wholly owned division of Advance Publications, a diversified media and publishing company founded by S.I. Newhouse in 1922. Advance is still owned and managed by the Newhouse family. Its media properties include the Condé Nast magazines such as Vogue, the New Yorker, GQ, Lucky and Vanity Fair as well as a significant stake in the Discovery Channel. Golf Digest and Wired are also owned by Advance.
ACBJ employs more than 1,600 employees in the U.S. and owns 40 business newspapers and websites in cities stretching from Washington D.C. to San Francisco and Miami to Seattle, yielding 3.6 million print readers, 10 million unique online visitors each month and more than 1 million daily email subscribers. ACBJ also has a joint venture with Perform operating Sporting News, the popular US digital website for sport.
The new venture combines the resources and reach of one of America’s leading publishing and events businesses with one of Europe’s fastest growing and respected b2b event brands in sport to create a powerfully aligned business with a shared 5 year vision for the future.
“It was incredibly flattering to receive an approach from ACBJ several months ago,” said Leaders CEO Worrall. “We’re absolutely thrilled to now have such a professional, experienced and aligned shareholder to help us grow Leaders into a major international event and content business.
“Throughout the process, the Advance, ACBJ and SBJ teams and their advisors have been incredibly collaborative and supportive. With Simon and I retaining 50 per cent of the business alongside such an influential group of businesses in media and publishing, we hope to accelerate our growth over the next five years”.
“I’d like to personally thank the entire Leaders team for their hard work and dedication over the last 7 years and look forward to seeing them continue to grow professionally and personally throughout the next phase of the Leaders journey. I’d also like to thank all our clients and stakeholders in sport who have supported us from day one and promise to continue to deliver events and services according to the values that have been so important to us from the start”
ACBJ president and CEO Whitney Shaw said, “We’re excited about the opportunity to help Leaders grow and am especially pleased that this is the first true step beyond the U.S. for our sports business group. Because of our ownership of Sports Business Journal, Sports Business Daily and our own sports conference group, we knew first-hand of Leaders. What we loved most about the company was the strength and flexibility of its brand, the international reputation of its events and the fact that the business has shown year-on-year growth in a competitive sector every year from its start seven years ago.”
For more information:
James Worrall, CEO, Leaders on +44 (0) 207 042 8666
Whitney Shaw, President, ACBJ on +1 (212) 704 973 1050