SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Glam Media, Inc. (www.GlamMedia.com), the number one vertical social media company with the largest online global reach in lifestyle, today announced the completion of the acquisition of Silicon Valley-based Ning (www.ning.com), the leading online platform for building social web sites. Additionally, Ning co-founder and chairman, Marc Andreessen, has joined Glam Media’s board of directors.
Leading Social Media Company
Based in Brisbane, Calif., Glam Media is now the second largest social media company in the world with more than 250 million monthly unique users, and more than 100,000 publishers and content creators. Ning will continue to operate its subscription services for Ning Creators as a new business unit within Glam Media. Jason Rosenthal, formerly CEO of Ning, joins Glam Media as EVP Social Media & General Manager of Ning, and is now a member of the Glam Media executive team.
Combining Ning’s world-class technology and deeply engaging social platforms with Glam Media’s super premium advertising solutions and reach will accelerate the company’s vision of helping brand marketers engage with passionate social communities across all digital mediums. The new entity sets the standard for media companies by providing brand advertisers with the reach of portals, the deep connections and interests of Facebook, and the influence of trusted conversations.
Glam Media Board of Directors
Marc Andreessen joins Glam Media’s board of directors, which includes top venture firm investors — Accel’s Theresia Ranzetta and DFJ’s Tim Draper — as well as Co-Founder of Glam Media Fernando Ruarte, Dr. Marcel Reichart from print media leader Hubert Burda Media, and Glam Media Founder & Chairman Samir Arora. Marc is a Silicon Valley pioneer who created Mosaic, the first web-browser and was the co-founder of Netscape Communications. In 2009, Marc created the venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, with Ben Horowitz that invests in leading-edge technology companies. He currently serves on the boards of Facebook, HP, eBay and other technology companies.
For more information regarding Glam Media, visit www.glammedia.com.
About Glam Media
Glam Media is the pioneer of vertical media that connects the world’s top brand advertisers with targeted vertical audiences online. Glam invented the first commercial blog network in 2005 to harness the power of Social Media for brands. Since then, it has grown to reach more than 200 million unique visitors globally, and is #1 for lifestyle, #1 for women and is a Top 10 US Web Property. Glam Media has more than 4,000 premium content creators organized across multiple vertical categories online including: Glam.com for Women, Glam Entertainment for Adults, Brash.com for Men and Bliss.com for health and wellness seekers.
Glam Media has headquarters in Silicon Valley, New York, and London, with offices in Brisbane in California, New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Toronto, London, Munich, Hamburg, Berlin, Düsseldorf, Paris, Tokyo, Seoul, Pune and Mumbai. Glam Media’s investors include Information Capital, Accel, DFJ, Walden Ventures, Hubert Burda Media, GLG, and Aeris.
About Ning
Ning is the leading online platform for the world’s organizers, activists and influencers to create social experiences that inspire action. For brands of all shapes and sizes, Ning makes it easy to build custom and powerful social websites. Ning Networks span categories like politics, entertainment, small business, non-profits, education and more, connecting millions of people every day around the topics they are passionate about. Palo Alto, Calif.-based Ning was co-founded in October 2004 by Chairman Marc Andreessen and Gina Bianchini. For more information, visit www.ning.com.