Skift Take

Despite the challenges of running a content company right now, Lonely Planet has flourished in its post-BBC life and is expanding into more video and a new magazine in the U.S.

Daniel Houghton, CEO of Lonely Planet, spoke last month at the Skift Global Forum.

Houghton has led Lonely Planet since the BBC sold it off in March of 2013 (which Skift revealed in an exclusive report). Despite the BBC’s digital chops, it failed to expand the brand beyond it’s print strengths. The newly independent Lonely Planet sought to change that through organic growth as well as acquisitions of mobile and video brands.

“In five years, hopefully, we’ll have become successful at being a true multimedia company,” Houghton told the assembled crowd at the Skift Global Forum.

In addition to discussing Lonely Planet’s strategy, Houghton announced the launch of a U.S. version of its Lonely Planet magazine in the U.S. at the Forum.

Over the next three weeks, we will publish in full the presentations and interviews from the Forum. To follow along as they are added, bookmark this page.

Houghton’s discussion with Skift co-founder Jason Clampet is in full, below.

Read More: 3 Top Quotes About Reinventing Digital Media from Lonely Planet’s CEO

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Tags: lonely planet, media, sgf2014, skift global forum

Photo credit: Daniel Houghton, CEO of Lonely Planet, at the Skift Global Forum in New York City on October 9, 2014. Skift

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