Los Angeles, May 24, 2016: Penske Media Corporation (PMC) today appointed George Grobar Chief Operating Officer. Grobar, who most recently served as Executive Vice President for the company, will be responsible for working with PMC business leaders to develop growth plans and achieve PMC’s operational and financial plans across its impressive portfolio of brands (Variety, WWD, Footwear News, Deadline, Indiewire, TVLine, Hollywood Life, Gold Derby, Variety Latino).
“George is an accomplished executive with more than 25 years of financial and operational leadership experience,” said Jay Penske, PMC Chairman and CEO, to whom Grobar will report. “Over the last decade, George has been one of the single greatest contributors to PMC’s success and relentless growth. His knowledge and expertise will undoubtedly continue to be instrumental as we continue to scale the business globally.”
With PMC’s aggressive expansion plans, the company’s scale and number of businesses continue to grow. As Chief Operating Officer, Grobar will be focused on ensuring the smooth and effective integration of acquisitions, continuing to expand PMC’s digital footprint, and working with the leadership teams across the company to deliver improving financial and business performance.
“PMC has been rapidly expanding and there are tremendous opportunities for growth in both our current businesses and ones we will undoubtedly be adding,” said Grobar. “PMC is one of the few companies on the internet that can boast having profitable brands across our entire portfolio. That is something we are truly proud of, and would not be possible if we did not have such powerful brands as well as truly world-class people throughout the company. Getting the chance to work with this team is rewarding and I look forward to the challenges ahead.”
Grobar will be overseeing all PMC sales and operations. He will also be responsible for all organizational plans and budgets company-wide. Grobar joined Penske Media in 2009 and, in addition to his new COO role, he will continue to serve as a Director on the PMC Board as well as on the Board of PMC’s joint venture in India with Zee TV. Grobar joined PMC as Chief Financial Officer and was actively involved in integrating several new acquisitions into the company, building the PMC join venture operations in India (which includes India.com, Bollywoodlife.com, The Health Site, Cricket Country and BGR India). Grobar also played a lead role in the integration of the Variety and Fairchild operations.
Grobar came to PMC with over two decades of financial and operational experience in new media, consumer products and technology enterprises. Prior to joining PMC, Grobar spent 13 years at The Walt Disney Company, and 8 years in manufacturing and product development at Unisys Corporation. Grobar was the Senior Vice President of Disney Mobile, where he led the launch of a new strategic business from the ground up, competing with major players for share of mobile phones in the family market. Before moving to Disney Mobile, George held several senior positions in Disney business units including Vice President of Disney Ecommerce, Vice President and Chief Financial Officer for Disney Direct Marketing and Walt Disney Art Classics, and the Director of Business Operations & Control for the Consumer Products Division Controllership.
George has a B.A. degree in Economics and English, magna cum laude, from Amherst College in Massachusetts and an MBA in Finance from the University of Michigan.
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About PMC
Penske Media Corporation (PMC) is a leading digital media, publishing, and information services company that engages with audiences across the web, television, mobile, print and social media. PMC’s owned and operated brands reach more than 170 million visitors monthly (comScore, 2015) and Penske Media was recently named one of the Top 100 Private Companies in the United States and North America. With the preeminence of its brands, PMC is one of the largest digital media companies in the world, publishing more than 20 digital media brands, including its India.com joint venture with ZEE TV in India and Variety Latino joint venture with Univision Communications Inc. PMC additionally owns and produces more than 80 annual events, summits, award shows and conferences while housing a dynamic research and emerging data business. As of 2016, PMC businesses include: PMC Studios, WWD, Variety Inc., Deadline.com, Fairchild Media, M, India.com, GoldDerby.com, FootwearNews.com, TVLine, CricketCountry.com, Hollywood Life, Beauty Inc, BGR, AwardsLine, Bollywood Life, BPB.in, LA411, NY411, Variety Insight, and Indiewire.com. The company is headquartered in New York, NY and Los Angeles, California with an additional 11 offices around the world.
PMC Contact
Lauren Gullion
310-484-2540
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