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The story
Founded by Gareb Shamus in 1991.1
Corporate history
Gareb Shamus founded Wizard magazine in January 1991 shortly after he graduated from college. The company was originally based in Congers, New York.
Wizard magazine was successful, and the company expanded its publishing operations with more magazines devoted to other elements of the collectible industry. Wizard purchased the Chicago Comicon in 1997 to expand from its core publishing business into trade/consumer conventions.
In early 2011, the company made some major corporate transitions. First, through an arrangement with Strato Malamas of the holding company GoEnergy, it became a publicly traded company known as Wizard World. At the same time, it abruptly canceled Wizard magazine and its other remaining publication, ToyFare, to focus on its convention business.
Shamus was pushed out as company CEO in late 2011; his position was taken in March 2012 by John Macaluso. In 2015, the company lost $4.25 million in revenue and cut back from 25 to 19 convention events in 2016. Less than a week after the announcement of the losses, Macaluso resigned as CEO and was replaced by John D. Maatta.
In 2018, Wizard World was renamed Wizard Entertainment, Inc.
In 2021, after selling its last few conventions to FanExpo, Wizard Entertainment essentially ceased to exist.
Beginnings and growth
Wizard purchased the Chicago Comicon in 1996; the renamed "Wizard World Chicago" was the template for a new kind of convention that shifted its focus from actual comic books to ancillary elements of pop culture fandom: celebrity performers, films, television, video games, and toys – "comic conventions" almost in name only. By 2006, Wizard World Chicago boasted a weekend attendance of over 58,000 people.
In May 2002, Wizard branched out from Chicago and produced Wizard World East at the Pennsylvania Convention Center in Philadelphia. And in 2003 the company produced Wizard World Texas, adding Wizard World Los Angeles in 2004 and Wizard World Boston in 2005.
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In 2007–2008, Wizard held conventions in Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Chicago, and Texas. In 2008, Wizard began adding an academic forum called "Wizard World University," integrating scholarly panels into its conventions, beginning with the November convention in Arlington, Texas.
From Wikipedia’s article on Wizard Entertainment, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.7