Demand Media Names Sean Moriarty CEO, Buys Saatchi Online

(RTTNews) - Demand Media, Inc. (DMD) Monday announced the appointment of Sean Moriarty as Chief Executive Officer and board director.

A seasoned executive, Moriarty brings 18 years of experience with media and Internet companies, including Ticketmaster and Saatchi Art where he served as CEO.

Shawn Colo, Demand Media co-founder and Interim Chief Executive Officer, has been appointed President and will join the board of directors.

Prior to Saatchi Art, Moriarty was the CEO of Ticketmaster where he led the transformation of an offline business to a top 5 global Internet commerce company earning nearly $1.5 billion in annual revenue with a presence in 22 countries.

Prior to Ticketmaster, he worked 4 years as EVP of Product and Technology at IAC/Citysearch. Moriarty serves on a number of boards including Eventbrite, Metacloud, TuneIn, and the Pat Tillman Foundation.

Demand Media also announced today that it acquired Saatchi Online, Inc. which operates Saatchi Art, a leading online art gallery, for $17 million in cash and stock.

Saatchi Art is driven by its global community of artists, similar to Demand Media's Society6 marketplace. It is home to more than 45,000 artists selling their original work on the site. In the past six months, artwork has been sold to buyers in 77 countries on behalf of artists in 95 countries.

In the near term, the company expects this acquisition to contribute revenue of $0.5 million to $1 million per quarter and reduce adjusted EBITDA by $1 million to $1.5 million per quarter.