Press Release

Charles W. Tillinghast Named President of MSNBC.com

REDMOND, Wash., September 22, 2005 — MSNBC.com, the number-one news site on the Internet, announces the appointment of its current General Manager and Publisher, Charles W. Tillinghast, to President.  Tillinghast sets and directs MSNBC.com’s business priorities, manages the company’s editorial organization, oversees new technology development and is the key liaison between NBC and Microsoft, joint owners of the site. Since joining MSNBC.com in 1999, he has held positions in the business development and sales departments and has served as General Manager and Publisher since July 2004. Tillinghast is the first President in the history of the company employed directly by the joint venture company. (Previous Presidents were employed by Microsoft.) 

"Charlie is a dynamic leader who has done a tremendous job executing a real vision for our online platform," said Steve Capus, acting president of NBC News.  "He's assembled a great team that has propelled the Web site to the number-one news and information destination on the Web."

In the year since Tillinghast took over as General Manager, MSNBC.com’s traffic and revenue numbers have increased significantly:

MSNBC.com moved from third to first place in the Nielsen//Net Ratings  Unique users increased 35%, from 20 million in July 2004 to 27 million in August 2005 Page views increased by 49% year over year Overall revenue increased 34% year over year MSNBC.com achieved its first full year of profitability, with substantial margins  

“The success of MSNBC.com is due in no small part to the strong leadership of Charlie over the past six years,” said Bruce Jaffe, Corporate Vice President and CFO, MSN. “His deep understanding of both the news business and the Internet has helped him assemble an amazing team and build the number-one spot for online news worldwide. We look forward to years of continued innovation and growth under Charlie’s leadership.”

Prior to joining MSNBC.com, Tillinghast held business development and sales positions in the software, semiconductor and health care industries.  Originally from Boise, Idaho, he holds a bachelors degree in American Civilization from Brown University, an MBA from Harvard Business School, and attended the Wharton School’s executive education program on leadership. He serves on the board of Trustees of Albertson College of Idaho.  He lives in Woodinville, Wash., with his wife, Camille, and their four children.