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Scott Kurnit

Scott Kurnit is an American media and internet entrepreneur who worked at Warner’s Qube interactive cable service, Viacom’s pay-per-view businesses and Prodigy before founding what became About.comPeople Inc.People Inc. is an American digital and print publisher, formerly Dotdash Meredith and renamed on July 31, 2025, whose 40-plus brands include PEOPLE, Better Homes & Gardens, Food & Wine, Allrecipes and Investopedia; its parent, formerly IAC, renamed itself People Incorporated (Nasdaq: PPLI) on June 4, 2026.Open the full entry in 1996 and serving as its chairman and chief executive; in 2010 he founded AdKeeper, later Keep Holdings.

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Key facts

Before 1979Hampshire College and NYU Film School

Brightcove’s 2015 proxy statement says Kurnit holds a B.A. in sociology and communications from Hampshire College. A profile compiled by Paul Schindler says he also attended New York University’s film school and was once the youngest program director among PBS stations.⁠[1][2]

1979–1993Qube and Viacom Pay-Per-View

A profile in The Wall Street Transcript says Kurnit worked at Warner Communications from June 1979 to March 1985, including as director of programming for the interactive cable service Qube, and at Viacom from March 1985 to June 1993 as president of Viewer’s Choice and Showtime Event Television.⁠[3]

His Brightcove director biography says he launched a pay-per-view cable network and, as president of Showtime Event Television, oversaw the broadcast of a rock concert from the former Soviet Union that aired in 70 countries.⁠[4]

1993–1996Prodigy and the MCI/News Corp Internet Venture

From June 1993 to March 1995 he was executive vice president of Prodigy Service Co.; his Brightcove biography credits him with embedding a web browser in an online service. From March 1995 to February 1996 he was president and chief executive of MCI/News Corporation Internet Ventures, responsible for its internet initiatives.⁠[3][4]

June 1996Founding The Mining Company

Kurnit founded the company that became About in June 1996 and served as its chairman and chief executive. It began as The Mining Company and was renamed About.com in 1999.⁠[3][5]

In spring 1998 he was interviewed by Computer Chronicles at Spring Internet World ’98, when The Mining Company relied on about 500 part-time, unpaid guides to run its topic sites.⁠[2]

October 30, 2000Selling About.com to Primedia

Kurnit negotiated Primedia’s purchase of About.com in a stock deal of about $690 million, after which he was to remain chief executive reporting to Primedia’s Tom Rogers. He said in the announcement that the merger would “unlock the value in our company.”⁠[5][6]

2001Stepping Down as About’s Chief Executive

A Forbes article of January 3, 2002 said Primedia had announced in September 2001 that About co-founder and president William Day would replace Kurnit as chief executive at year-end, and analysed the share-price guarantee and option terms Kurnit had secured in the About.com sale.⁠[7]

2005Joining Brightcove’s Board

Brightcove’s proxy statement shows Kurnit had been a director of the online video platform company since 2005.⁠[1]

2010Founding AdKeeper

TechCrunch reported that Kurnit founded AK Networks, AdKeeper, in New York in March 2010 to let users save banner ads, and that in September it closed an $8 million Series A co-led by True Ventures and DCM, with Kurnit as chief executive.⁠[8]

April 7, 2015Chairman and Chief Executive of Keep Holdings

Brightcove’s 2015 proxy statement said AdKeeper was now known as Keep Holdings, Inc., an ecommerce company, with Kurnit as chairman and chief executive, and that he served on boards including the Paley Center for Media, the Mianus River Gorge Preserve and Stein Eriksen Lodge.⁠[1]

His Brightcove biography says he holds four patents, has founded four companies and that About reached a public market value of $1.7 billion.⁠[4]

Related Organizations, Websites, and Public Accounts

People Inc. (successor to About.com): Official website: https://www.people.inc/ (opens in a new window)⁠[9]

Sources

  1. Brightcove Inc. Definitive Proxy Statement (Schedule 14A) (opens in a new window)
  2. Scott Kurnit (opens in a new window)
  3. Scott P. Kurnit (opens in a new window)
  4. Scott Kurnit (opens in a new window)
  5. Primedia buys About.com (opens in a new window)
  6. Primedia and About.com Merge (opens in a new window)
  7. About.Face (opens in a new window)
  8. ‘Stealth’ Advertising Startup AK Networks Raises $8 Million (opens in a new window)
  9. People Incorporated – Investor Relations (opens in a new window)