Mandalay’s Guber lands Board seat at Demand Media

Demand Media, the company behind online hits such as eHow, Livestrong.com and Cracked, is expanding its reach, adding both Hollywood and Internet heavyweights to its board of directors.  

Peter Guber, chair of Mandalay Entertainment Group, and Josh James, senior vice president and general manager of the Omniture Business Unit of Adobe, have joined the company’s board to help the company in its content creation and audience behavior.

"Both Peter and Josh are legendary entrepreneurs in their respective industries because they not only broke new ground, but they also had the business savvy to grow their companies into sustainable market leadership positions," said Demand Media CEO Richard Rosenblatt.

Guber, of course, has a long history in film, having produced or executive produced over 50 films, including “Rain Man,” “Flashdance” and “The Color Purple.”

Demand is growing fast and has a good bit of cash in its cofers, having raised over $355 million in financing. It had reported revenue of $200 million last year and was said to be profitable (though, since the company is privately held, that cannot be independently confirmed). It owns several Web content sites and remains on the hunt for others.

Once the subject of buyout speculation, Demand is now reportedly exploring a public offering, with a valuation of roughly $1.5 billion.  

While it mainly focuses on entertainment and instructional videos, Demand also has content deals with several newspapers, including USA Today.