Salon.com (NASDAQ: SALN) is an Internet media company that produces a network of 11 original content sites and hosts two online communities Table Talk and The WELL. The sites are News, Politics2000, Technology, Arts & Entertainment, Health & Body, Books, Media, Travel, Mothers Who Think, People and Comics, and are updated daily or more frequently. Salon.com is headquartered in San Francisco and has editorial offices in New York and Washington, D.C.
Founded in November 1995 by David Talbot, Salon.com has been called "intriguing and intelligent" (Washington Post), "smart and elegant" (U.S. News & World Report) and "a breath of literate air in this computer-crazed world" (New York Post). Salon.com has been featured on ABC, NPR, CNN, MSNBC, CNBC, "Good Morning America," "Morning Edition," "Talk of the Nation," "Crossfire," The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, The Boston Globe, Time, Newsweek and other leading media outlets
Salon.com has attracted more than 325 advertisers and sponsors. Premier advertisers include IBM , Lexus, Virgin Megastore Online, EDS, Starbucks, Intel and Microsoft. Salon.com also provides content to many distribution partners including America Online, Lycos, Go.com, Netscape, TheStreet.com, CNN.com, CNet and Reuters.
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Awards
Salon has won most major Web awards including:
- 1999 "Best Technology Site" and "Best Parenting Site" -- Forbes Magazine
- 1999 "Best Politics Site" Brills Content
- 1999 "David Talbot, one of the 20 Stars of the New News" -- Newsweek
- 1999, 1998 & 1997 Webby Award for "Best Online Magazine"
- 1998 "Best of Multimedia" -- Entertainment Weekly
- 1999, 1998 & 1997 "Top of the Net" -- Yahoo Internet Life
- 1997 "Best of the Web" -- Business Week
- 1997 "Best Website" -- Entertainment Weekly
- 1997 "Best Online Magazine of the Year" -- Advertising Age
- 1996 "Web Site of the Year" -- Time Magazine
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Content and Business Staff
David Talbot, Founder, Chairman and Editor in Chief
Michael O'Donnell, CEO and President
Todd Hagen, Chief Financial Officer, VP of Finance and Administration
Andrew Ross, Executive Vice President
Gary Kamiya, VP for Content/Executive Editor
Scott Rosenberg, VP for Site Development/Managing Editor
Mignon Khargie, VP for Design
Darlene Townsend, Associate Publisher
Bonni Hamilton, Regional VP of Sales
Patrick Hurley, VP for Marketing
Chad Dickerson, VP for Technology
Joan Walsh, VP for News
Leah Tracy, VP for Broadband
Dayna Macy, Director of Public Relations
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Columnists
Dr. Robert Burton
Joe Conason
Stanley Crouch
Sean Elder
David Horowitz
Garrison Keillor
Greil Marcus
Joyce Millman
Camille Paglia
Amy Reiter
Mary Roach
Scott Rosenberg
Ruth Shalit
Michael Sragow
Virginia Vitzthum
Sarah Vowell
Cintra Wilson
Burt Wolf
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Editorial Departments
Arts & Entertainment -- Edited by Bill Wyman, Arts & Entertainment is filled with movie, music and television reviews, features and interviews. The site includes Joyce Millmans daily Blue Glow and bi-monthly television features; extended film coverage including actor and director interviews; and Sharps & Flats, reviews of the hottest music releases from jazz and country to rock and hip-hop.
Books -- Edited by Laura Miller and Craig Seligman, Books includes ahead-of-the-curve daily book reviews; interviews with today's most interesting writers; Book Bag, a weekly dose of must-reads recommended by celebrated authors; and the Salon.com Book Awards, an annual literary event honoring the years best books. Books also contains Ivory Tower, a look at campus life from within and without.
Comics -- The site features the works of comic luminaries Tom Tomorrow, Ruben Bolling, Carol Lay and Keith Knight -- as well as "Dark Hotel," a serial penned and inked by comics legends Bob Callahan and Spain Rodriguez featuring the strange and twisted lives of those who live in San Francisco's imaginary Dark Hotel.
Health & Body -- Edited by Karen Croft, Health & Body covers a wide range of health issues, from biomedical ethics and genetic engineering to sex, alternative medicine and fitness. The site also includes a column of healthy wit by Mary Roach and features Urge -- a Saturday section showcasing great writing on sex and erotica by columnists Susie Bright and Virginia Vitzthum.
Media -- Media offers funny and trenchant coverage of the media world. The site includes Real Life Rock Top 10, Greil Marcuss weekly music column; Ruth Shalits perceptive wit on the world of advertising and a column by Sean Elder who keeps an eye on the most influential media moguls of the day.
Mothers Who Think -- Edited by Jennifer Sweeney, Mothers Who Think features articles by thought-provoking writers about motherhood, family life and womens lives. The site was founded by Camille Peri and Kate Moses who co-edited the national best-seller Mothers Who Think: Tales of Real-life Parenthood in May 1999 (Villard).
News -- Edited by Joan Walsh, News features breaking stories, investigative journalism and commentary, as well as interviews with newsmakers, politicians and pundits. Columnists for the site include Joe Conason, Stanley Crouch and David Horowitz.
People -- This site takes a discerning look at celebrity and the culture of celebrity. People includes Brilliant Careers, Salon.coms weekly series of profiles of today's outstanding achievers; Camille Paglia's column on culture and politics; Nothing Personal, a daily gossip and news column by Amy Reiter; and Cintra Wilsons column about celebrity and pop culture. People is edited by Douglas Cruickshank.
Politics2000 -- The site features some of the most in-depth and hard-hitting political coverage found anywhere. The site is home to the writing of Jake Tapper, Salon.coms Washington Correspondent, and "one of the best young reporters in D.C.," according to Business Week. Politics2000 also features a comprehensive directory of Salons political content, daily interactive polls, streaming video of C-Spans Campaign2000 footage and "Trail Mix" a daily news round-up.
Technology -- Smart, opinionated coverage of Internet news and digital culture from todays best technology writers. Edited by Kaitlin Quistgaard, Technology offers daily feature stories and logs; reviews of books, hardware, software and Web sites; Scott Rosenberg's weekly column of Internet commentary; and The Free Software Project, a totally unique approach to book publishing using the interactivity of the Internet to present Andrew Leonards groundbreaking reporting on Linux and the open source movement.
Travel -- Edited by Don George, Travel & Food showcases lively, first-person travel writing by such leading writers as Peter Mayle, Isabel Allende, Jan Morris, Pico Iyer and Simon Winchester, as well as a weekly column by renowned travel and culinary personality Burt Wolf and Out of the Blue a column about flying the not-so-friendly skies.
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Community
Table Talk -- With more than 100,000 registrants and growing, Table Talk
is a lively, spirited discussion area where Salon readers are free to speak
out on Salon articles or whatever's on their minds. More than 2,500 topics
are being discussed, including books, politics, digital culture, personal
life, entertainment and much more. Links to Table Talk from Salon's feature
stories stimulate discussion and debate.
The Well -- Often described as the world's most influential online community, The Well was founded in April 1985 and acquired by Salon.com in
April 1999. This members-only online community is a unique and world-famous
community of writers, technologists, thinkers and quirky pundits who
exchange information and opinions on topics ranging from jazz to Java, from
gardening to Generation X.
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Readership
- In December 1999, the network had 3.4 million unique visitors.
- During the last quarter Salon.com averaged 23 million page views per month.
- 58% male / 42% female
- 88% between ages of 18-49
- Mean age: 34
- 32% earn $75,000 or more per year
- 19% earn $100,000 or more per year
- 98% are have earned a college degree or are pursuing one
- Mean session time with Salon per visit: 26 minutes
- Mean number of monthly visits to Salon: 23
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