SAN FRANCISCO -- July 29, 2002 -- Salon Media Group, Inc (Nasdaq: SALNC), a leading new media company, announced today that it has secured new bridge loan financing totalling approximately $715,000 from a group of 11 investors. The company also announced that it is in advanced discussions for a new line of credit with a commercial bank.
"We're pleased to have closed this round of financing from an existing group of Salon investors. Salon's a valuable media franchise and we're working hard to achieve profitability with our growing subscription revenues, new syndication partners and innovative advertising strategies," said Michael O'Donnell, Salon's CEO and President.
Salon's three subscription services -- Salon Premium, The Well and Table Talk -- have amassed over 44,000 active paid subscribers. "Paid content services are becoming increasingly popular on the Web and Salon's been a pioneer in proving that audiences will pay for valuable content, whether it's on the Internet, in magazines or on cable television,"said O'Donnell.
In the last 90 days, Salon has signed 24 advertisers to run campaigns on Salon.com, including Visa, Microsoft, American Express, Rolex, American Airlines, HBO, Absolut, PBS, Jose Cuervo, Marriott Hotels, Paramount Home Entertainment, Las Vegas Convention Visitors Association, Powell's Books, Trip.com, Progressive Auto Insurance, New York Times, Universal Studios, Democratic National Committee, LoJack, and Wizards of the Coast.
"Salon continues to attract marquee brands who value our content and audience demographics," O'Donnell added. "We're well positioned to capture an increasing amount of advertising dollars as the ad market recovers and more Fortune-1000 type brands transition their spending to the Web."
About Salon
Founded in 1995, Salon Media Group (Nasdaq:SALNc - News) is a leading new media company that produces an award-winning Internet site, Salon.com, as well as two subscription-based online communities, The Well and Table Talk. Salon logged 3.8 million unique visitors in June 2002. Companies that have advertised on Salon include IBM, Lexus, PBS, Porsche, Universal Studios, Hewlett-Packard, Ford, Sprint, Microsoft, Absolut, ING, Powell's Books, Discover Card and Intel.
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