Miller Freeman Asia is to launch two new sites and develop its
online B2B communities through acquisitions with other regional
companies, a senior executive at the company said.
Mr Peter Sutton, CEO of Miller Freeman Asia, told CReATION the recent
acquisition of the group's travel and tourism division by hongkong.com
was the first of many that would allow the publisher to focus its
efforts online.
"We haven't looked into publishing much recently. We find it more
suitable to move into online, not print. This is based on the market,
not the medium.
In mainland China and Hong Kong, we have an extensive list of companies
we are talking with in terms of acquisitions. We are big and rich enough
to do this." Mr Sutton said.
He added the company would leverage on its trade titles, including
Jewellery News Asia and Asia Pacific Leather, to launch two new sites by
the end of this year, which would gradually be developed to facilitate
online transactions.
"Publishers are now waking to the need to have a good, strong presence
online. Moving online is inevitable, but the whole sponsorship and
advertising side remains unclear at the moment ... What we hope is to
develop this into incremental revenue for the group, not as a
replacement," Mr Sutton said.
The new websites would give Miller Freeman another channel to promote
its fairs and events.
