List firm Worldata announced last week that as of June 30 it no longer will manage CMP Media Inc.'s mailing lists.
Roy Schwedelson, CEO of Worldata, Boca Raton, FL, said the agreement to relinquish the lists came about while he was negotiating to buy back CMP's interest in online ad-placement venture WebConnect.
“You can't negotiate with a giant company who is also your client,” said Schwedelson, who added that he wanted to negotiate for WebConnect on equal footing. “I wanted WebConnect back because it is twice as profitable as the CMP files.”
Schwedelson said that the two firms reached their agreement at the end of December and that he decided to go public now because of press inquiries into the status of Worldata's relationship with CMP at last week's net.marketing conference in Miami.
Schwedelson said WebConnect is placing ads for about 110 clients and is on target to become a $25 million company within a year and a half.
According to Schwedelson, the split with CMP, which is among the largest publishers of hi-tech magazines, was amicable and ended a contract that was supposed to run for another 3 1/2 years. CMP spokeswoman Catherine Jarrat Koatz said her company had no comment.
When it was announced in August 1996, Schwedelson said the agreement to manage CMP's lists would garner his firm about 50 consumer and business-to-business lists and increase the size of Worldata's list-management division by 20 percent to 25 percent. He declined to say how many lists his firm would lose when it ceases management of the CMP lists and would only say that the property has “shrunk because they've closed a few pubs and sold a few off.”
Schwedelson said there are no layoffs planned at Worldata.
Before handing them over to Worldata, CMP managed its lists internally through CMP Direct Marketing Services. When it was announced, the deal reportedly was for two years.
According to a statement released by Worldata, CMP's list rental revenue under Worldata's management increased by “several million dollars.”
