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PennWell Corporation, a diversified global media and information company, announced today that it has acquired LEDs Magazine, a business-to-business digital magazine and web site (http://www.ledsmagazine.com) covering the technology and applications of Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs). Financial terms of the sale were not disclosed. Tim Whitaker, founder of LEDs Magazine in 2004, will join PennWell as Publisher/Editorial Director to continue the growth of the magazine in the fast-growing LEDs marketplace. Whitaker will remain based in Bristol, U.K, where he operated the business prior to the sale to PennWell. He will report to Christine Shaw, senior vice president of PennWell`s Optoelectronics Group based in Nashua, New Hampshire. The LEDs Magazine and web site also include a weekly newsletter and annual LEDs Suppliers Directory to serve over 20,000 readers who specify, design, and manufacture LED-based products for a wide range of end-use applications including general and architectural lighting, signs and displays, mobile appliances, vehicles, signals, and industry and medical. LEDs Magazine provides technical articles, case studies, application notes, product information, and business and financial news. PennWell President and Chief Executive Officer Robert F. Biolchini said, "This acquisition is a highly strategic fit with our portfolio of information products serving the optoelectronics markets, including our research business Strategies Unlimited, our annual conference and exhibition Strategies in Light, and Laser Focus World magazine. We are especially pleased that Tim Whitaker will become a full-time executive for PennWell`s Optoelectronics Group, as we see exceptional growth opportunities for LEDs Magazine." Biolchini added that the LEDs market will grow from a $4 billion market in 2006 to over $9 billion by 2011 for an annual compound growth rate of 17%. Shaw, who also serves as group publisher of Laser Focus World, noted that LEDs Magazine has earned its reputation as the leading information resource for the global LED community. "Tim Whitaker is widely recognized in the LEDs field. His expertise in optoelectronic semicondutor technologies combined with his solid editorial and publishing history will prove to be an asset to PennWell. I look forward to working with him and Joanna Hook, who will also join PennWell and continue in a sales role." Whitaker`s career history included several years as editor of Compound Semiconductor magazine before he launched LEDs Magazine in collaboration with the Institute of Physics Publishing in the U.K. In addition to the fit with Laser Focus World, LEDs Magazine complements PennWell`s Strategies Unlimited and Strategies in Light. Strategies Unlimited, based in Campbell, California, specializes in market research reports, custom studies, and newsletters directed at the optoelectronic and optical communications industries. Strategies in Light is an annual business conference and exhibition on high-brightness LEDs. Produced annually since 1999, Strategies in Light is both the longest-running and the largest conference in the High Brightness LED industry. The 2007 event in San Jose had 627 delegates and 49 sponsors and exhibitors with attendance from U.S., Canada, Europe, the Middle East, Asia, Africa, and New Zealand. The 2008 Strategies in Light will be held February 12-14 in Santa Clara. About PennWell PennWell Corporation is a diversified business-to-business media and information company that provides quality content and integrated marketing solutions for the following industries: Oil and gas, electric power, water and wastewater, environmental, electronics, semiconductor, contamination control, optoelectronics, fiberoptics, enterprise storage, converting, nanotechnology, fire, emergency services and dental. Founded in 1910, PennWell publishes 75 print and online magazines and newsletters, conducts 60 conferences and exhibitions on six continents, and has an extensive offering of books, maps, web sites, research and database services. In addition to PennWell`s headquarters in Tulsa, Oklahoma the Company has major offices in Nashua, New Hampshire, Houston, Texas, London, England, Campbell, California, Fairlawn, New Jersey, Moscow, Russia, and Hong Kong, China. |