The Arena Group Announces Paul Edmondson as its CEO, Removing Interim Tag

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Today, the Board of Directors of The Arena Group Holdings, Inc. (NYSE American: AREN) announced that they have appointed Paul Edmondson as Chief Executive Officer, effective immediately. Edmondson had been serving as interim CEO since February 12, 2025. Prior to that, Edmondson had been the company’s COO and President of Platform.

“As the company rapidly transforms, the Board feels that Paul’s experience and entrepreneurial strategy is well-aligned with The Arena Group’s growth plan,” said Cavitt Randall, Chairman of the Board of Directors. “Paul’s successes throughout the company – including the recent rapid transformation of Athlon Sports – are indicative of where we believe he can lead the company overall.”

“I’m grateful for the opportunity to lead The Arena Group as CEO,” said Edmondson. “We intend to focus on innovation and creativity to strengthen our brands – and we expect to empower our team and publishing partners to engage and grow our digital audience. We will continue the momentum we started with Athlon Sports and bring that same focus to the broader company to drive long-term success.”

Edmondson began working with The Arena Group in 2018, when it acquired the business he founded and led, HubPages. He then served as COO from August 2018 until October 2019 when he was named the company’s President. Here, he oversaw Arena’s core content management system, programmatic advertising and the technology stack for publishers and owned and operated properties.

In 2024, in addition to his President of Platform role, Edmondson was named General Manager of The Arena Group’s sports media business, including Athlon Sports. Under Paul’s direction and leadership, Athlon Sports experienced a renaissance, becoming one of the strongest and most-viewed sport-related websites in the U.S.

Before founding HubPages, Edmondson worked for Microsoft Corporation’s MSN Entertainment and developed applications for Hewlett-Packard Company.

About The Arena Group

The Arena Group (NYSE American: AREN) is an innovative technology platform and media company with a proven cutting-edge playbook that transforms media brands. Our unified technology platform empowers creators and publishers with tools to publish and monetize their content, while also leveraging quality journalism of anchor brands like TheStreet, Parade, Men’s Journal and Athlon Sports to build their businesses. The company aggregates content across a diverse portfolio of brands, reaching over 100 million users monthly. Visit us at thearenagroup.net and discover how we are revolutionizing the world of digital media.

Forward-Looking Statements

This Press Release of The Arena Group Holdings, Inc. (the “Company,” “we,” “our,” and “us”) contains certain forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”), and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”). Forward-looking statements relate to future events or future performance and include, without limitation, statements concerning our business strategy and expansion plans. Other statements contained in this Press Release that are not historical facts are also forward-looking statements. We have tried, wherever possible, to identify forward-looking statements by terminology such as “may,” “will,” “could,” “should,” “expects,” “anticipates,” “intends,” “plans,” “believes,” “seeks,” “estimates,” and other stylistic variants denoting forward-looking statements.

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