The Knot Inc., Weddings for the Real World, is one of the world’s leading wedding media and services companies, providing today’s to-be-weds with comprehensive wedding planning information, interactive tools and resources. With a fresh voice and real world sensibility, The Knot has extended its brand to every venue brides and grooms turn to plan their weddings -- online at the #1 wedding website, TheKnot.com, and on newsstands and in bookstores nationwide.

Since 1996, when it pioneered the online wedding space, The Knot has focused on filling the void created by antiquated wedding resources and curing the clutter of the highly fragmented bridal industry. With its trademark voice and real world sensibility, The Knot provides today’s to-be-weds with first-class wedding planning information, tools, and resources through online properties and print publications.

Shortly after securing seed financing from America Online, The Knot secured additional rounds of funding from industry giants Hummer Winblad Venture Partners and QVC, Inc. In December 1999, The Knot raised $35 million in its initial public offering. In February 2002, The Knot received additional backing from The May Department Stores Company.

With over 2 million unique members and more than 4,200 new members a day, The Knot has the largest audience -- bar none -- of wedding-obsessed, cash-wielding brides.

TheKnot.com, the #1 wedding website, is the exclusive wedding content provider to the Internet’s top portals: AOL, MSN, and several of AOL’s leading brands including Netscape and CompuServe. Through our most recent partnership, The Knot can also be found online at Yahoo!

Through partnerships and acquisitions, The Knot has aggressively extended its brand to every medium: online at TheKnot.com; in bookstores nationwide through two book series with Random House’s Broadway Books and Chronicle Books; and on newsstands nationwide through print publications, THE KNOT magazine and WEDDINGPAGES® magazines, which boast a combined circulation of 1.4 million.

Through print properties and online services, The Knot has established several distinct revenue streams, including:

The Knot has leveraged its reach -- unmatched by any other bridal company -- into advertising dollars by offering national and local businesses strategic integrated online marketing programs that are targeted directly to the industry’s largest, most qualified audience of to-be-weds.

The Knot is a leader in wedding-related e-commerce. The Knot Wedding Supplies Store is the largest retailer of wedding supplies, favors, and attendant gifts on the Internet, and The Knot Gift Store & Registry is a principal player in the online registry arena. Through direct-to-manufacturer selection and strategic retailing partnerships with key industry players including Fortunoff and Linens ’n Things, The Knot Stores offer superior selection, a seamless round-the-clock shopping experience, and superlative service. The Knot also sells its own wedding collections to couples and other retailers.

THE KNOT magazine features a revolutionary directory format that allows couples to find what they’re looking for with unparalleled ease. The Knot WEDDINGPAGES® magazines help couples plan their weddings in over 30 U.S. cities and enable local vendors to deliver their messages directly to their target audience. Through partnerships with acclaimed book publishers Broadway Books and Chronicle Books, The Knot has also authored two wildly popular wedding planning book series, which have combined sales of more than 100,000 copies.