NEW YORK--Jan. 10, 2002--In the past 24 months, Bill Jemas has rejuvenated the publishing, licensing and online divisions for Marvel Enterprises, Inc.
In a move designed to further strengthen the company's businesses, Marvel has promoted Mr. Jemas to Chief Operating Officer. The announcement was made by Marvel CEO Peter Cuneo.
"Bill has done an extraordinary job in leading these divisions," said Mr. Cuneo. "He has been the driving force in the formulation and execution of new strategies and tactics that have pushed these businesses to new heights. And, most importantly, Bill has recruited, a new wave of top executive talent and successfully integrated them into the company's operations."
During his tenure at Marvel, Mr. Jemas has been responsible for a complete revamping of each division he heads including:
PUBLISHING
Jemas has teamed with his newly-appointed Editor-in-Chief Joe Quesada to lead an industry wide resurgence in comic book publishing. Marvel currently publishes 20 of the top 25 comic books in the North American market and has over a 40 percent marketshare. Jemas is Marvel's first "suit" since Stan Lee to play a lead role in the creative process. He developed the Ultimate Marvel teen line (which sells nearly 500,000 units per month) and co-wrote Ultimate Spider-Man. Jemas also conceived the best-selling Origin of Wolverine mini series and co-wrote the plot with Quesada. Additionally, during Jemas tenure, Marvel has expanded its trade paperback and graphic novel offerings and also launched the "Max" comic book imprint, which is designed for mature readers. It is the company's first foray into this area, which currently accounts for approximately 33 percent of comic book industry sales.
LICENSING AND MERCHANDISING
Jemas had been with Marvel in the mid 1990's when the company and its characters were powerful forces in kids marketing. Among his first moves upon returning to Marvel was to bring back another Marvel alum, Russ Brown, to run Consumer Products. Under Jemas and Brown, the company has signed lucrative deals and run strong promotions in just about every major category from electronic games (Activision and Vivendi/Universal) and kids shoes (Buster Brown) to fast food (Burger King). They also have opened areas that are new to Marvel including wireless communications, NASCAR and Monster Trucks.
ONLINE
Jemas brought Gui Karyo into Marvel to be the company's Chief Information Officer and direct Marvel.com. Bill and Gui developed Marveldotcomics - a fun and easy way to read Marvel comic books on-line. Downloads of Marvel's new "dotcomics" regularly top 1.3 million per month and Dotcomic pages have been very popular with Advertisers (because this is the only place online that they can get wide distribution of full-page ads to their target audience). Moreover, all of Marvel's monthly titles that have been distributed as dotcomics have had growing retail sales. Keenly aware of the influence of Marvel Comics on both adults and children, Jemas has also stressed the importance of using that power for the social good. That has never been more evident than after the September 11 terrorist attacks when he authorized the publication of three different tribute books - Heroes, Amazing Spider-Man #36 and A Moment of Silence - which have combined to raise more than $1,000,000 for The Twin Towers Fund. Prior to re-joining Marvel, Mr. Jemas was most recently Executive Vice President, MSG Sports. In this capacity, he managed more than 40 sporting events that took place at Madison Square Garden. He also oversaw MSG's Sponsorship Group and the MSG Collection, which produces and distributes MSG and team-identified merchandise. Earlier in his career, he served as vice president, business development and business affairs for the National Basketball Association, where he was instrumental in re-organizing NBA Properties into one of the League's most successful divisions.
Mr. Jemas received his law degree from Harvard Law School and holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree from Rutgers College. He currently resides in Princeton, NJ.
About Marvel Enterprises, Inc.
With a library of over 4,700 proprietary characters, Marvel Enterprises, Inc. is one of the world's most prominent character-based entertainment companies. Marvel's operations are focused in five divisions: entertainment (Marvel Studios), licensing, toys (Toy Biz), comic book publishing and Internet/New Media. Marvel facilitates the creation of entertainment projects, including feature films, television, home video and the Internet, based on its characters and also licenses its characters for use in a wide range of consumer products and services including video and computer games, apparel, collectibles, snack foods and promotions. Marvel's characters and plot lines are created by its comic book division which continues to maintain a leadership position in the U.S. and worldwide while also serving as an invaluable source of intellectual property. For additional information visit the Marvel Web site at http://www.marvel.com.
