NEW YORK—FriendFinder Networks, the publisher of Penthouse magazine, has made the list of Inc. magazine's top 5,000 fastest-growing privately held companies. In fact, the Boca Raton-based company was ranked first among magazine publishers, third in the media category and 210 overall.
Companies on the 2009 list were ranked according to percentage revenue growth from 2005 through 2008. Between 2005 and 2008, FriendFinder saw revenue grow $31 million to $331 million—an increase of 966.4 percent, according to Folio.
Ranked just below FriendFinder were several other well-known publishers, including 944 Media (ranked 768 overall), brass-Media (809 overall), BizBash Media (1,652 overall), Folio: parent company Red 7 Media (2,498 overall), Mental Floss (3,164 overall), Financial Advisor magazine publisher Charter Financial Publishing Network (3,936 overall), Next Step Publishing (4,137 overall), BZ Media (4,241 overall) and Journal Publications (4,393 overall).
To qualify for consideration by Inc., companies had to have been founded and generating revenue by the first week of 2005, with four calendar years of sales. They also had to be U.S.-based, privately held, for profit, and independent—not subsidiaries or divisions of other companies. They also were required to have generated at least $200,000 in revenue in 2005 and at least $2 million in revenue in 2008.
The No.1 ranked company overall was Miami-based Northern Capital Insurance, which owns and operates two property and casualty insurance carriers.
Inc. magazine's full list is available here.
