Publishers Clearing House
 |
|
| Private | |
| Industry | Merchandising |
| Founded | 1953 |
| Headquarters | Port Washington, New York, United States |
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Key people
|
Robin B. Smith (chairman) Andrew Goldberg (president and CEO) |
| Revenue | $840.6 million (2013) |
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Number of employees
|
550 (2014) |
| Website | pch.com |
Publishers Clearing House (PCH) is a direct marketing company that markets merchandise and magazine subscriptions with sweepstakes, and prize-based games.
Publishers Clearing House was founded in 1953 by Harold Mertz to replace door-to-door magazine subscription sales by a single vendor offering multiple subscriptions by mail. It introduced its sweepstakes in 1967. In the early 1990s, the company was the subject of concerns and legal actions regarding whether consumers were misled about their odds of winning the sweepstakes and whether purchases increased their chances. By 2010, the company had reached settlements with all 50 states.
The company acquired search company Blingo in 2006, online gaming company Funtank in 2010, and mobile marketing company Liquid Wireless in 2012.
Publishers Clearing House was founded in 1953 in Port Washington, New York, by Harold Mertz, a former manager of a door-to-door sales team for magazine subscriptions. The company started in Mertz's basement with help from his wife LuEsther and daughter Joyce. Its first mailings were of 10,000 envelopes from Mertz's home in Long Island, New York, and offered 20 magazine subscriptions. 100 orders were received. Within a few years the company moved out of Mertz's basement into an office building and started hiring staff. When Publishers Clearing House moved its headquarters in 1969, its prior location was donated to the city and renamed the Harold E. Mertz community center. The company revenue had grown to US$50 million by 1981, and $100 million by 1988.
In 1967 Publishers Clearing House started its first sweepstakes as a way to increase subscription sales, based on the sweepstakes held by Reader's Digest. The first prizes ranged from 25 cents to $10 and entrants had a 1 in 10 chance of winning. After the sweepstakes increased response rates to mailings, prizes of $5,000 and eventually $250,000 were offered. PCH began advertising the sweepstakes on TV in 1974. It was the only major multi-magazine subscription business until 1977. Former client Time Inc. and several other publishers formed American Family Publishers to compete with Publishers Clearing House after the company refused repeated requests by Time for a larger share of sales revenue from magazine subscriptions.
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