ZelnickMedia And National Lampoon Join Forces To Build The Legendary Lampoon Brand
October, 10 2002
ZelnickMedia and National Lampoon (Nasdaq BB: JTWO.OB) today announced plans to join forces in building the legendary Lampoon brand. ZelnickMedia will acquire a minority interest in National Lampoon. Executives of the two companies are actively working closely on initiatives in all major media categories, including film, print, and television.
"National Lampoon has defined comedy for generations through magazines, books, live theatre, and with such hit movies as National Lampoon’s Animal House, the National Lampoon Vacation series and, most recently, National Lampoon's Van Wilder," said Chief Operating Officer Dan Laikin. “We are very pleased to be working with the ZelnickMedia team to take our company to a new level of success."
"The National Lampoon is among the best recognized and most appealing comedy brands in America," said Strauss Zelnick. "My partners and I are committed to create opportunities for new deals in film, television, books, records, and magazine publishing. We are impressed by both the creative and financial potential of the properties and licenses that Lampoon controls. We look forward to working with National Lampoon to help reenergize their franchise."
National Lampoon (Nasdaq BB: JTWO.OB) is a publicly traded company that owns interests in all major National Lampoon properties including National Lampoon’s Animal House, the National Lampoon Vacation series, and National Lampoon’s Van Wilder, as well as all content from the National Lampoon magazine, published from 1970 to 1998. National Lampoon recently announced the acquisition of the Burly Bear Network from owners including Constellation Ventures and Lorne Michaels. The network, which features comedy and other youth-oriented content and reaches over 3.5 million students at 416 colleges and universities, will be re-branded The National Lampoon Network.
ZelnickMedia is a partnership of experienced media executives led by Strauss Zelnick, former CEO of BMG Entertainment and President/COO of 20th Century Fox. The partnership includes Scott Siegler, former President of Sony Tri-Star and Warner Brothers Television, Jim Friedlich, most recently a senior publishing executive with The Wall Street Journal, Ben Feder, who served as an Executive Vice President of News Corporation, and Karl Slatoff, most recently Vice President of New Media at BMG. The partnership holds interests in an array of media enterprises including recorded music, publishing, CD manufacturing, on-line games, and media-related software, both in the U.S. and Asia.