Lonely Planet has hired John Boris as managing director for the Americas. He was svp of marketing and interactive for Zagat’s. In a piece about the company, All Things Digital cites new ceo Matt Goldberg reporting that “Lonely Planet’s digital businesses have doubled their revenues to $20 million this year via premium pricing and advertising.” Lonely Planet was an early and successful player in building an online community of their fans/customers (including 700,000 registered members in their Thorn Tree community.)
Among their digital initiatives, Goldberg cites “500,000 downloads from around 70 premium-priced apps” on various mobile platforms. ATD says, “While not all of it is going to work, that kind of endless experimentation at Lonely Planet is probably the right way to keep figuring out how to deal with the seismic media shifts that show no sign of abating.”
ALD
Yesterday Wiley issued a press release announcing succession plans as three key executives prepare to retire next year. Stephen Kippur will step down nextsummer as head of the professional/trade line after 31 years with Wiley. Managing director of Wiley Asia Mark Allin will move up to coo of professional/trade in January and then take over when Kippur retires.
Steve Miron is being promoted in similar fashion to take over STMS publishing from Eric Swanson, and Joe Heiderwill is on a similar path to take over higher ed from Bonnie Lieberman.
Release