PRIMEDIA Announces Actions to Strengthen Workplace Learning Unit

Business Wire, Feb 22, 1999

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 22, 1999--PRIMEDIA Inc. (NYSE: PRM) announced today that its PRIMEDIA Workplace Learning unit is closing five unprofitable and recently launched product lines as part of a program to return the company's focus to accreditation-oriented vocational networks and associated products.

The company further announced an immediate reduction in force of 100 people, or more than 20 percent of the total workforce at its Carrollton, Texas facility, most of whom worked for the closed product lines.

"These actions will focus the company on the best prospects for growth in the areas of automotive, government services, industrial, healthcare and banking related training," said William F. Reilly, chairman and chief executive officer of PRIMEDIA. "As one example, ASTN, the Automotive Satellite Television Network, is the leading provider of results-oriented automotive training and education in the retail automotive industry.

"This action does not affect PRIMEDIA Workplace Learning's Pictorial and Qwiz operations which had strong results in 1998. We will continue to invest in the growth of the `new' PRIMEDIA Workplace Learning company and are enthusiastic about its prospects for improved profitability," continued Reilly.

Product lines that will continue are in automotive (Automotive Satellite Television Network - ASTN); government services (Law Enforcement Training Network - LETN, Fire & Emergency Television Network - FETN, American Heat and Pulse/EMU); industrial (Williams Learning Network - WLN, Tel-A-Train and Industrial Training Systems); healthcare (Health and Sciences Television Network - HSTN, Long Term Care Network - LTCN, Assisted Living Best Practices, Joint Commission Satellite Network - JCSN and the Interactive Medical Networks, psychLINK and Topics in Medicine); and banking (Bankers Training and Consulting Company - BTCC).

The product lines that will be closed are Interactive Distance Training Network (IDTN), PRIMEDIA Corporate University Network (PCUNet), PRIMEDIA Financial Network (PFN), American Health Information Management Association Distance Learning Services (AHIMA) and the Workplace Training Network (WTN). The company also intends to sell the Accounting & Financial Television Network - AFTN and The CPA Report (CPAR).

PRIMEDIA expects to record a charge related to this refocusing for severance, lease discontinuance for transponders and for 44 IDTN sites, related goodwill and other items against its 1999 first quarter results. The pre-tax charge is expected to be between $20 and $24 million.

PRIMEDIA Inc., with 1998 sales from continuing businesses of $1.5 billion, is a targeted media company focused on consumer, business-to-business and education audiences. Some key brands include Seventeen, New York, Chicago, Fly Fisherman, Channel One Network, Weekly Reader, World Almanac, PRIMEDIA Workplace Learning, Horticulture, Modern Bride and American Baby.