Billboard is an American entertainment media brand owned by Prometheus Global Media. It publishes pieces involving news, video, opinion, reviews, events and style. It is also known for its music charts, including the Billboard Hot 100 and Billboard 200, tracking the most popular singles and albums in different genres. It also hosts events, owns a publishing firm, and operates several TV shows. Billboard was founded in 1894 by William Donaldson and James Hennegan as a trade publication for bill posters. Donaldson later acquired Hennegen's interest in 1900 for $500.
In the 1900s, it covered the entertainment industry, such as circuses, fairs and burlesque shows. It also created a mail service for travelling entertainers. Billboard began focusing more on the music industry as the jukebox, phonograph and radio became commonplace. Many topics it covered were spun-off into different magazines, including Amusement Business in 1961 to cover outdoor entertainment so that it could focus on music. After Donaldson died in 1925, Billboard was passed down to his children and Hennegan's children, until it was sold to private investors in 1985. The magazine continued to change hands to Affiliated Publications (1987), VNU/Nielsen (1994) and its current owner, Prometheus Global Media (2009). As of 2016, it has been shifting to more of a consumer focus online. Formerly located at 770 Broadway, New York, they recently moved uptown to 340 Madison Avenue, New York.[2]