Penton (professional information services)
| Industry | Information services and marketing solutions |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1904 |
| Founder | John Penton |
| Headquarters | 1166 Avenue of the Americas, New York, United States |
|
Key people
|
Patrick Martell, Informa's Integration Officer for Penton |
| Products | |
| Owner | Informa Plc |
|
Number of employees
|
1200 |
| Website | penton |
Penton is an information services and marketing company. The company's three largest revenue streams come from events, digital and marketing services. 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. The main industry segments served by Penton include agriculture, transportation, natural products/food, infrastructure, and design and manufacturing.
The company is descended from Penton Publishing, founded by John Penton in 1904 to bring together production of several trade magazine titles, including Foundry, which he had created in Detroit in 1892.
Penton's global headquarters had been in the Penton Media Building in Downtown Cleveland, Ohio since 2000. However, after the Penton/Prism merger, the company is now headquartered in New York City, although it continues to maintain offices in Cleveland and other U.S. cities, with an employee base of approximately 1,350 people.
Due to reduced advertising sales as customers shifted to digital media from print, Penton went through "pre-packaged" bankruptcy reorganization in 2010.
On September 15, 2016 it was announced that Penton was to be bought by UK based company Informa for $1.56 billion. The sale closed on November 2, 2016.
Penton's history began with two Cleveland companies, Penton Publishing Co., founded by John A. Penton—an iron molder by trade—in 1904, and the Industrial Publishing Co. John Penton had been involved in publishing trade magazines since 1887, creating Foundry in Detroit (1892), and then the Iron and Steel Press Co in Cleveland (1901). In Cleveland, he also published The Iron Trade Review, which became IndustryWeek.
By the 1920s, the company was a large business magazine publisher, for several years printing "Time" under contract. Between 1938 and 1945, Penton helped the United States Census establish the Standard Industrial Classification system, a digital coding system for industries.
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