Florida Agenda owner acquires FunMaps
by Chuck Colbert
Multimedia Platforms, the gay-owned parent company of Florida Agenda and Guy magazine, has acquired FunMaps, “a 33-year-old LGBT travel and leisure publishing company delivering local and regional maps, information, and advertising to more than 40 key North American cities,” according to a press release announcing the acquisition.
“FunMaps was our first acquisition target after going public because we believe it brings key components to the company,” said Bobby Blair, chief executive officer of Multimedia Platforms (MMP), in a press release. “Through FunMaps, we have inherited an expanded market for our content-rich Agenda newspaper, with its world-renown writers and globally-relevant content, plus the existing FunMaps print publication, with a readership of over five million per year, thousands of vendors and advertisers in established markets throughout United States and Canada. FunMaps’ robust online directory/city guide, Gayosphere.com, features largely in our new social media network – launching in 2015.”FunMaps produces Gayosphere, which “makes planning your trips easy and rewarding, all while connecting you to our world,” according to its website. “With over 30 years of experience in the mapping industry, we are proud to be the online gateway for GLBT travel.”
“It’s now official,” said FunMaps founder Alan H. Beck, quoted in the Miami Herald.
The acquisition had been in the works since January. The deal became final in early March.
FunMaps publisher Beck will remain with the company for a period of at least three years and will provide leadership and liaison for MMP with his established market. As an integrated part of MMP, FunMaps’ established distribution territory to destination regions — including Atlanta, Chicago, Ft. Lauderdale, Los Angeles, Miami, Montreal, New York, Orlando, San Francisco, Toronto, Vancouver, Victoria, Halifax, Quebec City, Ottawa, Edmonton, Calgary, and Washington, D.C. — now become part of the MMP market footprint.
“I have been building FunMaps for nearly 25 years. Now, I am now very pleased to have it be, in our next phase, a part of the next leap in the evolution of LGBT media,” said Beck in a press statement. “The infrastructure and management team MMP has put in place creates a framework and momentum that will propel the company further, and faster, around the globe, serving the LGBT community.”
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Volume 16
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