Marketwire
 |
|
| Type | Privately held |
|---|---|
| Industry | News dissemination |
| Founded | 1982 (as Canadian Corporate News) |
| Headquarters | Toronto, Ontario, Canada |
| Area served | Canada, United States, United Kingdom, Europe, Asia, and Latin America |
| Key people | Michael J. Nowlan (President and Chief Executive Officer) |
| Services | Online press release and content distribution. Social media monitoring and research. |
| Owner(s) | OMERS Capital Partners |
| Employees | 300+ |
| Subsidiaries | Sysomos |
| Website | http://www.marketwire.com/ |
Marketwire is a social communications company headquartered in Toronto, Canada with offices throughout Canada, the United States, South America, and Asia. Marketwire was founded in 1993 and incorporated in the U.S in 1999. The company distributes press releases via traditional methods (Associated Press, Bloomberg, etc.) as well as new media methods and provides, multimedia (photo and video) distribution, conferencing services, media contact management and media monitoring services. The company has more than 15,000 clients worldwide and has twenty offices.
Contents |
Corporate history[edit]
Marketwire, under its original name Internet Wire, began service in October, 1994, as the first Internet-based press release distribution company. The company was founded by PR agency owner Michael Terpin and online marketer Michael Shuler in Los Angeles, CA, and received $17.5 million in venture capital to expand operations in January 2000.[1] The company changed its name to Market Wire in April, 2003, after sealing a strategic deal with NASDAQ.[2]
In 2006, Marketwire was acquired by CCNMatthews, a 25-year-old news distribution company in Canada. The company adopted the name Marketwire unilaterally. The company is now majority-owned by OMERS Capital Partners,[3] the private equity arm of one of Canada's largest pension funds. The company's history can be traced back to 1957.
In July 2010, Marketwire acquired Sysomos, a social monitoring and analytics service, offering customers the ability to track their social presence across sites like Facebook and Twitter.[4]
In October 2011, Marketwire filed a lawsuit accusing PR Newswire of trying to steal confidential information and trade secrets, seeking at least $25 million in damages.[5]
In May 2012, Marketwire re-branded its visual identity and introduced the tagline “Beyond Words” with an updated logo. It also consolidated its product portfolio to reflect its growth and new social media offerings.[6]
Operations[edit]
The company's operations are categorized into three offerings.
- Distribute (online press release and content distribution)
- Socialize (social media monitoring and social research)
- Resonate (Integrated press release, SEO and content distribution and social research platform)
Corporate Affairs[edit]
Marketwire's President and Chief Executive Officer is Michael J. Nowlan. The company's headquarters is in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Offices locations include Canada, United States, South America, and Asia. The company has more than 15,000 clients worldwide and has twenty offices.
Controversial Events[edit]
On August 24, 2000, Mark Jakob, a former employee, used Internet Wire to send a fraudulent press release to the news media. The press release falsely reported that Emulex Corporation was suddenly in dire straits; several news outlets picked up the story the next morning, causing Emulex to lose 62% of its value in morning trading. The FBI later discovered that Jakob had shorted Emulex stock, and he was sentenced to 44 months in prison.[7]
Notable events[edit]
In 1956, a senior federal Department of Industry officer named Ted Bullock was assigned to promote Canadian businesses and industries involved in the following year's Brussels World Fair. A list of every media outlet in the country, he felt, might help him to do his job better. So he suggested his friend, Syd Matthews, compile that list.
In 1957, Canada's first media directory was published by Syd Matthews. At 13 pages, the list contained the mailing address and senior personnel for 23 daily newspapers and was mailed to 33 subscribers. Marketwire celebrated the 50th anniversary of this directory on October 10, 2007.
References[edit]
- ^ "Internet Wire Launches Second-Generation Internet- Based Company News Service; Raises $17.5 Million First Round, Led By Sequoia Capital & Hummer Winblad Venture Partners". Market Wire. 2005.
- ^ http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Renamed+Market+Wire+looks+to+Nasdaq+deal+to+boost+Business.+(Media+&...-a0101531967
- ^ OMERS Capital Partners
- ^ Official Announcement. "Marketwire acquires Sysosmos for social media monitoring and analytics." July 6, 2010.
- ^ "Stop the press releases! PR Newswire sued by rival". Reuters. October 26, 2011.
- ^ "Marketwire Rebrands as a ‘Social Communications Company’". Retrieved 4 July 2012.
- ^ "Defendant in Emulex Hoax Sentenced": Securities and Exchange Commission, Litigation Release No. 17094, August 8, 2001.
External links[edit]
- Marketwire - official site
