Penton (company)

[7] Due to reduced advertising sales as customers shifted to digital media from print, Penton went through "pre-packaged" bankruptcy reorganization in 2010.

In early 2011, Penton sold Mix, Electronic Musician, Radio, and Sound & Video Contractor magazines to NewBay Media.

[26] In the same year, David Kieselstein became CEO and was tasked with broadening Penton's digital solutions[buzzword], entering new industry sectors, and exploring growth markets.

[30] In January 2015, Penton acquired iNET Interactive, a Cincinnati-based event and digital information company, focused on the cloud computing, hosting and data center segments.

[32][33][34] Despite its long history as a trade publisher, in March 2014 Penton moved towards monetizing its large (then 16 million records) database to support marketing campaigns.

[35] In order to do so, it created the Penton SmartReach division to sell subscriber data directly rather than through third-party list vendors.

Penton analyses publicly available data for customers in industry sectors including agriculture, transportation, food, design and manufacturing, and infrastructure.

It has been described as "an online portal open to anyone building a natural products startup...with video content and reading materials, worksheets, legal templates and regulatory documents and supplier and vendor information that can help young companies start and grow.

"[39] Members also have access to a vetted list of service providers such as packaging vendors, branding consultants, and attorneys with relevant experience.

[42] In addition to trade publishing and data solutions[buzzword], Penton runs an events portfolio based on some of its media offerings, serving vendors and customers in the aviation, agriculture, and natural products segments.