Media Elite

Mediaweek (May 30, 2005)

Edited by Anne Torpey-Kemph
Mediaweek
May 30, 2005

Some Bosses Would take up a collection; Jonathan Simpson-Bint is taking his staff on a 585-mile bike ride. Simpson-Bint, president of enthusiast-magazine publisher Future Network USA, and 16 staffers from his Brisbane, Calif., and New York offices will hit the road June 5-11 for the San Francisco-to-Los Angeles AIDS/LifeCycle ride in a true team effort that reflects the company's ethic of social responsibility. In an age when families are scattered, "the company is the grassroots place, the starting point, for doing good things," says Simpson-Bint, noting he was not an avid cyclist before signing on for the 100-mile-a-day fund-raiser. Future Network staffers have bonded around the event, with some donating their vacation days to the pedal-pushers. Others reached out to their advertisers to sponsor the ride, bringing in several, including Midway, GameFly, Executrek, Rocket Shop and Activision, with Microsoft as the presenting sponsor at $50,000 for a total of $150,000 raised for the charity, which benefits the San Francisco AIDS Foundation and the HIV/AIDS services at the L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center. Simpson-Bint figures he won't be able to sit down for awhile after riding for six days, but that will work out just fine on the home front: He and his wife are expecting their third child this week...

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About The Future Network USA
Future Network USA (www.futurenetworkusa.com), is the country's foremost publisher of cutting-edge gaming, action sports, computing and musician magazines which reach a passionate young, active, affluent male audience. Future Network USA is run by President Jonathan Simpson-Bint and ranks 13th out of the top 20 audited U.S. newsstand publishers in gross newsstand revenue. Based in the San Francisco Bay Area, with offices in New York, Los Angeles and San Diego, Future Network USA's publications sell in excess of 2.2 million copies per month. Its market-leading titles include PC Gamer, PSM: 100% Independent PlayStation 2 Magazine, Official Xbox Magazine, Mobile PC, Maximum PC, MacAddict, EZ Tech Guides and musician titles: Future Music (to launch April 2005), Guitar One, Guitar World, Guitar World Acoustic (bi-monthly), Guitar World Bass Guitar (bi-monthly) and Guitar World Legends (bi-monthly).

About The Future Network plc
The Future Network was founded in the UK in 1985. Today, it publishes over 90 special-interest consumer magazines worldwide, is the world�s leading publisher of games magazines and is the fifth largest magazine publisher in the UK. Future employs over 1,000 people in offices in the UK, US, Italy and France. Around 100 international editions of Future�s magazines are also published in 31 other countries across the world. The company is listed on the London Stock Exchange (symbol FNET).