living omnimedia type privately held subsidiary of sequential brands group industry publishing internet broadcasting merchandising founded 1997 founder martha stewart headquarters starrett lehigh building new york city new york u.s. key people martha stewart chairwoman lisa gersh president and coo products martha martha stewart living everyday food martha stewart weddings body soul home decorating products home furniture revenue us 160.675 million 2013 1 operating income us 1.897 million 2013 1 net income us 1.772 million 2013 1 total assets us 148.367 million 2013 1 total equity us 70.475 million 2013 1 owner sequential brands group number of employees 406 feb 2014 1 website marthastewart.com martha stewart living omnimedia inc. mso is a diversified media and merchandising company founded by martha stewart owned by sequential brands group since december 4 2015 . it is organized into four business segments publishing internet broadcasting media platforms and merchandising product lines . 2 mslo s business holdings include a variety of print publications television and radio programming and e commerce websites . contents 1 history 2 corporate executives 3 publishing 4 television and radio 4.1 television 4.2 dvd 4.3 radio 5 internet and direct commerce 6 merchandising 6.1 wine 7 acquisition of emeril lagasse franchise 8 controversies 8.1 investor s lawsuit 8.2 macy s lawsuit 9 references 10 external links history edit the company was founded in 1997 by martha stewart 3 as an umbrella for the various media and merchandising ventures linked to the martha stewart brand . it went public on the nyse on october 19 1999 . the stock opened at 18 a share but shot up to 38 a share making stewart an instant billionaire . she served as president chairwoman and ceo of the company until being forced to resign as a result of the imclone insider trading case . as part of an agreement with the sec she was banned from serving in any role that would allow her to prepare audit or disclose financial results of a public company until august 2011 . 4 in effect this banned her from serving as an officer of her own company . however she still owns a 96 percent controlling interest . stewart rejoined the board of directors of her namesake company in september 2011 5 and became its chairwoman once again in may 2012 . 6 on december 4 2015 it was announced that sequential brands group acquired martha stewart living omnimedia . 7 as a result of its acquisition martha stewart living omnimedia requested that the new york stock exchange nyse suspend trading & de list the company s common stock . 7 8 corporate executives edit sheraton kalouria as president of television daniel dienst chief executive officer and director as of 2014 9 publishing edit martha stewart living martha stewart weddings special issues including the annual holiday cookies everyday food canceled 9 whole living canceled 9 four newspaper columns ask martha living weddings and everyday food are distributed to newspapers throughout the united states via the new york times syndicate . current books are published through random house s clarkson potter division ; earlier titles were offered through subsidiaries of time warner prior to stewart s spin off of her business ventures from its corporate umbrella . publishing activities are a major source of income for the company and accounted for roughly 60 % of total revenue in 2005 . television and radio edit television edit on 15 november 2005 martha stewart named nbc s sheraton kalouria as president of television 10 for martha stewart living omnimedia mslo he was responsible for development and production of global programming for cable broadcast syndication and dvd as well as managing mslo s development in the area of digital content for video on demand 11 web and mobile platforms . martha syndicated daily everyday food pbs weekly martha stewart living from martha s kitchen although mslo retained no technical ownership stake in nbc s program the apprentice martha stewart the company its magazines and various business ventures were prominently featured in each episode . mark burnett who produced the series is also co producer of the company s daily talk show martha . dvd edit mslo began marketing instructional dvds in late 2005 through a partnership with warner bros. with the first five offerings oriented toward cooking and holiday and special event planning . radio edit mslo operates a satellite radio channel martha stewart living radio on channel 110 of siriusxm satellite radio . among programs on the channel there was a weekday evening talk show co hosted by martha stewart s daughter alexis stewart whatever with alexis and jennifer . alexis left the radio show in june 2011 leaving jennifer koppelman hutt as the sole host . the show was cancelled in december 2011 and koppelman hutt was terminated . internet and direct commerce edit the company s internet and direct commerce segment currently includes its website marthastewart.com and a direct to consumer flower business marthastewartflowers.com . through an agreement with touchpoint it designed a line of customizable greeting cards under the marthascards banner which were sourced and fulfilled by touchpoint . this agreement was replaced by a new program with kodak easyshare gallery in 2006 . in november 2006 mslo announced their launch of martha s circle which is a lifestyle oriented blog ad network 12 whose charter members include apartment therapy smitten kitchen and charles & hudson . historically the company also produced a print and online catalog martha by mail which was launched in 1997 and later rebranded as martha stewart the catalog for living . following stewart s public fallout and the dot com bubble burst in 2002 the company decided to discontinue both the online and print editions in 2003 . the final print catalog was mailed in january 2004 and the online store closed in june of that year . merchandising edit mslo additionally offers various home goods through its mass market martha stewart everyday brand in kmart stores throughout the united states and at sears canada in canada . furniture and paint are part of the company s specialty retail oriented martha stewart signature brand through a partnership with bernhardt furniture company and previously with sherwin williams . in october 2006 the company announced a new agreement with lowe s to develop an exclusive interior paints line which replaced its previous contract with sherwin williams . the new line of paints martha stewart colors launched in april 2007 . in april 2006 the company also announced its plans to develop a new upmarket merchandise line with macy s inc. at the time named federated department stores launched in macy s stores in 2007 . the company has also announced its intention to design a new paper based crafts product line martha stewart crafts with ek success initially planned for release in time for the holiday 2006 season which later debuted in early 2007 at michael s stores . in fall of 2009 stewart announced the development of a line of outdoor furniture indoor organization kitchen cabinets and decor products at home depot . on december 7 2011 jcpenney announced the acquisition of 16.6 percent of the company s stock . jcpenney plans to put mini martha stewart shops in many of its stores in 2013 as well as starting a web site together . 13 wine edit on september 14 2007 martha stewart living omnimedia announced that it inked a partnership with e & j gallo winery to produce a wine brand with the label martha stewart vintage for sale in 6 cities january . the 15 000 cases to be sold include 2006 sonoma county chardonnay 2005 sonoma county cabernet sauvignon and 2006 sonoma county merlot for atlanta boston ; charlotte north carolina ; denver phoenix and portland oregon . martha stewart also signed a contract with costco wholesale corp. to offer a series of food products developed from mslo s library of recipes . acquisition of emeril lagasse franchise edit on february 19 2008 msl omnimedia announced that the company had reached an agreement with celebrity chef emeril lagasse to purchase certain business assets for 50 million 45 million in cash and 5 million in stock . 14 with the exclusion of emeril lagasse s restaurant chain and his foundation the deal consists of the rights to television programs such as essence of emeril and emeril live emeril lagasse s cookbook library the emerils.com website and kitchen and food products . controversies edit investor s lawsuit edit on august 6 2002 a class action was filed against martha stewart living omnimedia inc. for misleading investors by issuing materially false and misleading statements and its officers using insider information to avoid losses . a settlement of 30 million was approved in 2007 . 15 in 2004 the company previously recognized as expense its estimate of annualsubscription acquisition costs ratably throughout the year . after reviewing this matter with its independent certified public accounting firm and its auditcommittee the company determined on october 26 2004 to change the method of accounting for interim period expense recognition of its subscription acquisition costs . the company recognized subscription acquisition costs in the period in which the acquisition efforts took place and restated the financial statements . 16 macy s lawsuit edit in december 2013 macy s sued martha stewart and penney after the two companies decided in 2011 to partner up and open up what would be called martha stewart home shops . macy s sued martha stewart for breach of contract and sued penney for interfering with its agreement with martha stewart . both of these lawsuits were combined in december 2013 . 17 macy s goal was to stop penney from selling martha stewart merchandise that was supposed to be sold exclusively at macy s. 18 macy s settled a portion of its lawsuit with martha stewart omnimedia over a home products deal however macy s continues to sue j.c. penney company inc. 19 stewart did not disclose the terms of the settlement . 17 this lawsuit cost between 7 million and 8 million in legal costs according to ceo dienst . 9 references edit a b c d e f martha stewart living omnimedia inc. securities and exchange commission february 26 2014 company overview . marthastewart.com . retrieved 2012 04 28 . lockwood lisa april 29 2013 . martha stewart touting american made . wwd . retrieved 2 august 2013 . securities and exchange commission litigation release no. 19794 august 7 2006 . securities and exchange commission . retrieved 2012 04 28 . martha stewart rejoins her board . new york times . september 26 2011 . martha stewart named nonexecutive chairman of namesake company . wall street journal . may 23 2012 . a b martha stewart living omnimedia announces closing of merger with sequential brands group . www.prnewswire.com . pr newswire . retrieved 4 december 2015 . sequential brands group signs definitive merger agreement to acquire martha stewart living omnimedia . martha stewart living omnimedia . retrieved 22 june 2015 . a b c d steigrad alexandra 26 february 2014 . mslo s new ceo daniel dienst hits reset . wwd . retrieved 26 february 2014 . eggerton john 31 may 2006 . mslo taps more former abc execs . broadcastingcable.com . retrieved 17 october 2014 . thielman sam 1 october 2007 . stewart to launch vod service . variety.com . retrieved 15 october 2014 . mslo draws martha s circle blog lifestyle site network . mediaweek.com . retrieved 2012 04 28 . j.c. penney to offer martha stewart shops . winston salem journal . associated press . 2011 12 08 . retrieved 2011 12 08 . martha stewart buys emeril franchise associated press business news us mso msn money dead link class action lawsuit against mso . 10 q a martha stewart living omnimedia inc . a b alawadhi neha 2 january 2014 . martha stewart macy s settle lawsuit over penney deal . reuters . retrieved 2