Future Publishing
Encyclopedia
Future plc is a media company; in 2006, it was the sixth-largest in the United Kingdom. It publishes more than 150 magazines in fields such as video games, technology, automotive, cycling, films and photography. Future is the official magazine company of all three major games console manufacturer
s. It is a constituent of the FTSE Fledgling Index
.
The company was founded in Somerton, Somerset in 1985 by Chris Anderson
. An early innovation was the inclusion of free software on magazine covers, the first company to do so.
Anderson sold Future to Pearson PLC
for £52.7m in 1994, but bought it back in 1998, with Future chief executive Greg Ingham and Apax Venture Partners, for £142m. In 2001 Anderson left Future.
In November 2009, Future reported a fall in profits from £9.5 million to £3.7 million (a loss of 61 percent) in the fiscal year that ended 30 September 2009. Future attributed this to problems with their US market, hit by a fall in the general advertising market.
In March 2010 Future announced that it was exploring the possibility of reviving its GamesMaster
brand on television. The video games show had run from 1991 until 1998.
Console manufacturer
A console manufacturer is a company that manufactures and distributes video game consoles. It is also known as a first-party video game publisher...
s. It is a constituent of the FTSE Fledgling Index
FTSE Fledgling Index
The FTSE Fledgling Index consists of under 200 UK companies outside of the FTSE All-Share Index.This Index is calculated in real-time and published every minute.-Current constituents of the FTSE Fledgling Index:*AEA Technology*AXA Property Trust Ld...
.
History
Chris Anderson (TED)
Chris Anderson is the curator of TED , which hosts conferences in the US and Europe each year and an open-access website where TED talks can be viewed by the public. Previously he founded Future Publishing....
. An early innovation was the inclusion of free software on magazine covers, the first company to do so.
Anderson sold Future to Pearson PLC
Pearson PLC
Pearson plc is a global media and education company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is both the largest education company and the largest book publisher in the world, with consumer imprints including Penguin, Dorling Kindersley and Ladybird...
for £52.7m in 1994, but bought it back in 1998, with Future chief executive Greg Ingham and Apax Venture Partners, for £142m. In 2001 Anderson left Future.
In November 2009, Future reported a fall in profits from £9.5 million to £3.7 million (a loss of 61 percent) in the fiscal year that ended 30 September 2009. Future attributed this to problems with their US market, hit by a fall in the general advertising market.
In March 2010 Future announced that it was exploring the possibility of reviving its GamesMaster
GamesMaster
GamesMaster was a British television show, screened on Channel 4 from 1992 to 1998, and was the first ever UK television show dedicated to computer and video games.-Origins:...
brand on television. The video games show had run from 1991 until 1998.