WOWIO

Last updated
WOWIO
Type Public
Industry Books, Comics
FoundedAugust 2006
FounderWilliam Lidwell
Headquarters
Los Angeles, California
,
U.S.
Key people
 Brian Altounian
Products E-books
Services Publishing, Merchandising, Restaurants, Hospitality, Homebuilding
OwnerBrian Altounian
Alliance Acquisitions, LLC
Divisions Wevolt
TheDuckWebcomics.com
@Brand
Pop Galaxy
Website http://www.wowio.com

WOWIO is a deregistered company based in the United States. [1] WOWIO, Inc. has, historically, operated a digital media and technology development company with a patented process and a proprietary mobile ad-delivery platform that planned to disrupt the eBook distribution landscape by exploiting a previously untapped marketplace: ad-supported eBooks. A new management team announced in 2017 that Wowio will be a holding company supporting a number of investments in entertainment, restaurants, tourism, hospitality and other businesses including homebuilding in Northern California and the real estate development in Arizona. [2]

Contents

WOWIO's chairman is Brian Altounian, a former Time Warner executive, founder of Alliance Acquisitions, [3] and former board member (from 2005-2011) of Platinum Studios. [4] Mr. Altounian served as the Chief Executive Officer of WOWIO, Inc. from June 11, 2010 to September 2015. [5] During Mr. Altounian's last months as CEO, Wowio went public with an initial share price over $1; within months, the share price fell below $0.01. [6] Robert H. Estareja, President of Wowio since February 2015, replaced Mr. Altounian as CEO in September 2015. [7] In 2017, Mr. Estareja was replaced with a new CEO, Tony Anish, who announced the new strategic direction for the company. [2] The company deregistered its common stock in July 2018. [8]

History

WOWIO was founded in 2006 in Los Angeles [9] by "author and entrepreneur" William Lidwell. [10] Its original goal was to provide readers with free, downloadable E-books in exchange for embedded advertisements. [10] Initial offerings in the WOWIO catalogue included public domain titles like Wuthering Heights and Frankenstein , and comic book titles like the Tenth Muse series.

In June 2008, Platinum Studios announced that it had begun talks to acquire WOWIO, hoping to make it a "major cornerstone" of "a global digital publishing distribution initiative."[ citation needed ] The companies projected that the acquisition would be concluded early in the third quarter of 2008,[ citation needed ] but issues related to WOWIO's non-payment of quarterly earnings delayed the sale. [11]

In June 2009, WOWIO was purchased outright by Brian Altounian, formerly Platinum Studios' COO (at the time he was still a director). [9] Altounian's company Alliance Acquisitions, LLC is a minority owner, along with a group of investors; Platinum Studios no longer has any ownership stake or percentage. [9] Third quarter earnings for 2008, calculated on a new formula more favorable to WOWIO, were eventually paid. [12] Based on activities from 2008-2011, the State of California found that Mr. Altounian and his company, Alliance Acquisitions, had offered or sold securities by means of untrue or misleading statements and was ordered in 2015 to desist from such activity. [13]

In June 2010, WOWIO raised $1.7 million and purchased the online community WEvolt. [14] WEvolt, which was created by Jason Badower (a comic artist from Australia who has illustrated and colored several Heroes graphic novels) and Matt Jacobs, was a company that enabled comic book artists to create and share their work with their fans. Its online platform allows creators of comics (and eventually other media) to generate revenues by participating in ad sales and other activities such as merchandising. Users can create and submit their original material for broader distribution consideration, or they can simply use the site as an aggregator of their favorite online content.

A week after its purchase of Wevolt, WOWIO acquired DrunkDuck.com from Platinum Studios. [15] [16] DrunkDuck was a webcomics community of mostly amateur creators mixed with some Platinum Studios-owned professional titles. [17] At the time of its purchase by WOWIO, the DrunkDuck community claimed 95,000 subscribed users. [15]

By 2013, Wowio distributed content across five proprietary websites, including www.WOWIO.com, www.drunkduck.com, www.theduckwebcomics.com, www.WEvolt.com and www.popgalaxy.com, as well as YouTube. [18] Most of these websites, as well as a new website launched in 2014, www.studiowdigital.com, [19] became and remain inactive within the next few years. The PopGalaxy YouTube channel has 106 subscribers and stopped posting new content in 2014. [20]

In the middle of August 2013 the Drunk Duck site went offline. After repeated delays, the website briefly returned in September 2013, only to soon go offline again. On October 10, 2013, the site was brought back, now rebranded as TheDuckWebcomics.com.

In 2017, new management recognized that "the Company has been dormant due to a lack of funding and the inability to take the products they have been working on to market" and changed the strategic direction of the company. The new plan for the company is to be "a holding company supporting a number of investments in entertaining, restaurants, tourism and other businesses including housebuilding in Northern California and the development of property in Arizona." [2] Investments include Castlerock Bar and Grill, Canyon Café, and Wishing Well restaurant in Arizona; Lodgenuity, a hospitality consulting and management company; [21] and land in Avenal, California to build low-income housing. [22] The company deregistered its common stock in July 2018. [8]

Titles

Related Research Articles

Disney Comics is currently a label of Disney Publishing Worldwide and was a comic book publishing company operated by The Walt Disney Company from 1990 to 1993. It was connected with W. D. Publications, Inc., which was a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company that published Disney comics during that time span. W. D. Publications, Inc. created Disney Comics in 1990 so that The Walt Disney Company would not have to rely on outside publishers such as Gladstone Publishing. In the US, Disney only licensed Disney comic books to other publishers prior to 1990.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dark Horse Comics</span> American comic book and manga publisher

Dark Horse Comics is an American comic book, graphic novel, and manga publisher founded in Milwaukie, Oregon by Mike Richardson in 1986. The company was created using funds earned from Richardson's chain of Portland, Oregon comic book shops known as Pegasus Books and founded in 1980.

Harris Publications Inc. was an American special interest media company, operating over 75 brands with print, digital, mobile and live event platforms prior to its sale to Athlon Media in 2016. It produced magazines that educate, entertain, inform and inspire. Subject matters spanned an array of interests including decorating, gardening, beauty, automotive, sports, outdoor living, history, tactical, entertainment and wellness. Harris' titles covered a variety of markets and focused on niche special interests, primarily in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Scott Kurtz</span> American cartoonist

Scott R. Kurtz is an American webcomic artist. Known for creating the daily online comic-strip PvP, Kurtz is among the first professional webcomic creators.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marvel Productions</span> Television and film studio

New World Animation Ltd., formerly known as Marvel Productions, was the television and film studio subsidiary of the Marvel Entertainment Group, based in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California. It later became a subsidiary of New World Entertainment and eventually of News Corporation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">United Media</span> Defunct print syndication service

United Media was a large editorial column and comic strip newspaper syndication service based in the United States, owned by the E. W. Scripps Company, that operated from 1978 to 2011. It syndicated 150 comics and editorial columns worldwide. Its core businesses were the United Feature Syndicate and the Newspaper Enterprise Association.

Digital comics are comics released digitally, as opposed to in print. Digital comics commonly take the form of mobile comics. Webcomics may also fall under the "digital comics" umbrella.

Scott Mitchell Rosenberg is an American film, television, and comic book producer. He is the chairman of Platinum Studios, an entertainment company that controls a library of comic-book characters and adapts them for film, television and other media. Through Platinum Studios he is affiliated with Moving Pictures Media Group. He is also the founder and former president of Malibu Comics, and is a former senior executive vice president for Marvel Comics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marvel Entertainment</span> American entertainment company

Marvel Entertainment, LLC was an American entertainment company founded in June 1998 and based in New York City, New York, formed by the merger of Marvel Entertainment Group and Toy Biz. The company has been a wholly owned subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company since 2009, and was mainly known for consumer products, licensing, and comic books by Marvel Comics, as well as its early forays into films and television/streaming shows, including those within the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Boom! Studios</span> American comic book and graphic novel publisher

Boom! Studios is an American comic book and graphic novel publisher, headquartered in Los Angeles, California, United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marvel Animation</span> Animation company

Marvel Animation, Inc. is an American animation production company. It was incorporated on January 25, 2008 to direct Marvel's efforts in animation and home entertainment markets. The incorporated Marvel Animation included then ongoing animation efforts by Marvel Studios with Lionsgate and Nickelodeon. Marvel Animation operates under Marvel Studios, a subsidiary of Disney Entertainment, a division of The Walt Disney Company.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">POW! Entertainment</span> American media production company

POW! Entertainment Inc. is an American media production company formed in 2001 by Gill Champion, Arthur Lieberman and former Marvel Comics editor and publisher Stan Lee. POW! is made up of two companies: POW! Entertainment, Inc., a holding corporation and its wholly owned subsidiary, POW! Entertainment, LLC and is currently owned by Camsing International Holding.

Fangoria Comics was an American publisher of horror comics, releasing issues solely in the year 2007. It was a distinct unit under the larger Fangoria Entertainment umbrella, which also included Fangoria Magazine, Fangoria TV, and Fangoria Radio.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Platinum Studios</span> US media company

Platinum Studios, Inc. is a media company based in the United States. It controls a library of thousands of comic-book characters, which it seeks to adapt, produce, and license for all forms of media. The company has released films and/or television programming with Universal Studios, Paramount Pictures, DreamWorks, MGM, Showtime, and Lions Gate. Platinum has developed film or television with others, including Disney's 20th Century Studios, WarnerMedia's New Line Cinema and Sony Pictures Entertainment.

<i>Death Walks the Streets</i> 2010 comic book limited series

Death Walks the Streets is a 2010 comic book limited series based on an unproduced screenplay for a film of the same title. The comic is a prequel, set three years prior to the timeline in the screenplay.

Megan Rose Gedris is a mostly self-taught American cartoonist, writer, and publisher whose most well-known comics include YU+ME:dream and I Was Kidnapped By Lesbian Pirates From Outer Space. They are commonly regarded for writing about the advancement of women, LGBTQIAP+, sex and body-positivity within their work.

Comic books have been an integral and popular part of the American rock group Kiss' merchandising since 1977, beginning with their appearance in Marvel Comics' Howard the Duck #12. Over their career of nearly four decades, Kiss has licensed their name to "more than 3,000 product(s). .. to become nearly a one-billion-dollar brand."

Graphicly was a platform for publishers which offered work flow integration, self-publishing, digital distribution, conversion, and promotion for digital content. Launched by Kevin Mann and Micah Baldwin, the website was initially a platform for digital comic books, but later added support for children's books, art books, and magazines. Graphicly accumulated more than 3,500 publishers and more than 10,000 independent creators. The website hosted an active social community, allowing creators and fans to interact directly. Graphicly shut down in May 2014, and some of its key staff moved on to fellow digital publisher Blurb.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tapas (website)</span> Webcomics hosting website

Tapas, formerly known as Tapastic and originally known as Comic Panda, is a South Korean webtoon and prose publishing website and app owned by Tapas Media, a Kakao Entertainment company. It was created by entrepreneur Chang Kim in 2012, who is currently Tapas Media's CEO.

Notable events of 2006 in webcomics.

References

  1. ↑ "Bloomberg Company Overview of Wowio, Inc". Bloomberg News . Retrieved 9 November 2018.
  2. 1 2 3 "WOWIO, INC. Issues Information letter to Shareholders". 2017-11-29.
  3. ↑ "Bloomberg Company Overview of Alliance Acquisitions Inc". Bloomberg News .
  4. ↑ "Brian Altounian Joins Platinum Studios as Chief Operating Officer: Former Time Warner Interactive Executive Brings Both a Proven Operations Track Record and Multi-Media Partnership Experience," PR Newswire (August 9, 2005).
  5. ↑ "Stocks". Bloomberg News .
  6. ↑ "Wowio Inc".
  7. ↑ "Robert H Estareja, Wowio Inc: Profile and Biography". Bloomberg News .
  8. 1 2 "Bloomberg Company Overview of Wowio, Inc". Bloomberg News .
  9. 1 2 3 Reid, Calvin. "New Owners, New Business Model at Wowio.com," Publishers Weekly (Oct. 25, 2010).
  10. 1 2 Press release. "WOWIO Introduces 'ebooks for Free' Concept to U.S. Readerdom," PR NewsWire (Aug. 14, 2006).
  11. ↑ Johnston, Rich. "WOWIO to Pay All 2008 Second Quarter Payments by November 15," Bleeding Cool (October 1, 2009).
  12. ↑ "Turning the Page", Los Angeles Business Journal (08 March 2010). Retrieved on 2010-08-08.
  13. ↑ "STATE OF CALIFORNIA BUSINESS, CONSUMER SERVICES AND HOUSING AGENCY DEPARTMENT OF BUSINESS OVERSIGHT Desist and Refrain Order" (PDF).
  14. ↑ Wauters, Robin. "WOWIO Raises $1.7 Million, Acquires Online Community WEvolt", TechCrunch (03 June 2010). Retrieved on 2010-08-08.
  15. 1 2 Tartakoff, Joseph. "Wowio Buys Webcomics Community DrunkDuck ", Gigaom (08 June 2010). Retrieved on Feb. 19, 2014.
  16. ↑ Dilworth, Dianna. "Digital Publishing: WOWIO Acquires DrunkDuck Comic Book Community," MediaBistro (June 10, 2010).
  17. ↑ Marriott, Michel (September 25, 2006). "Using Web as first draft for comic books". The New York Times . Retrieved 26 May 2012. bought DrunkDuck.com, a popular Webcomics site ... community of Webcomics artists, writers and fans
  18. ↑ "REGISTRATION STATEMENT NO. 333- 184529".
  19. ↑ "WOWIO Launches New Mobile eBook App with over 350,000 Titles". www.businesswire.com. 2014-05-28.
  20. ↑ "The PopGalaxy Channel - YouTube". PopGalaxy YouTube Channel.
  21. ↑ "Wowio, Inc. Acquires Lodgenuity, Inc". 2018-01-25.
  22. ↑ "Wowio, Inc. Attacks Housing Crisis in California". 2018-01-30.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.