Horan Lands at AllBusiness.com
The small business-oriented site names its first new CEO after a rocky first few years.
The small business-oriented site names its first new CEO after a rocky first few years.
AllBusiness.com named Peter Horan as CEO one week after news arose of his departure from About.com. Horan plans to transition into the new position while he moves out of his role with About and its parent, the New York Times Company.
Horan will relieve Richard Harroch of his responsibilities as acting CEO of AllBusiness. Harroch, who is founder and chairman of AllBusiness and a managing partner at investor VantagePoint Venture Partners, has been heading the company since 2002. Harroch took over after a series of big changes at the firm, which was purchased by NBC Internet for $225 million and later spun off to merge with auction site BigVine.
AllBusiness, which publishes content focused on small businesses and entrepreneurs, hopes its new CEO’s background will help it deepen the content and resources it offers. The site publishes articles addressing the issues faced by small businesses along with resources like healthcare provider information. It also syndicates that content out to partners like the San Francisco Chronicle and About.com.
“You are going to see a lot more vertical content to bring folks into small business,” Horan told ClickZ News. “Then you are going to see horizontal things in terms of resources.”
The company offers advertisers graphical ad units sold on a CPM basis and contextual text ads sold on a CPC basis. AllBusiness also has an email newsletter and sells various sponsorship opportunities.
Though he will take on responsibilities with AllBusiness, will first go through transitional period during which he will spend time working with incoming About.com CEO Scott Meyer. Horan is also committed to help building the five-year plan with Times Digital.
Horan says his joining AllBusiness.com represents the start of a growth period for the company.
“This is the start of a long-term building process,” says Horan. “Could there be an IPO or sale down the road? Sure. But our focus is on building the business. More likely we will acquire companies over the next year than sell AllBusiness.”