Juan Delgado
Age: 36
Company: Perform Media
Title: CEO
Where born: Bogota, Colombia
Education: Universidad de Los Andes, Bogota (engineering degree); Imperial College, London (MBA)
Family: Wife, Juliet; children, Samuel and Sara
Favorite way to unwind: Reading, or Netflix.
Causes supported: SOS Children’s Villages.
Most thrilling/adventurous thing I’ve ever done: Bungee jump.
Person in the industry I’d most like to meet: Detroit Lions GM Martin Mayhew — mainly because I’d like to tell him how to run his team.
If I could change jobs with anyone for a day, it would be: A Dakar Rally driver. Dealing with the unexpected at top speed: What could be more fun?
2015 will be a good year if: The ad market holds up and digital video/mobile keeps growing at a fast pace.
My fellow Forty Under 40 class members would be surprised to know that I: Can’t sleep solid unless I’m at home.
PERFORM MEDIA
ess than six years ago, Perform was a small, British digital media outfit unknown in the U.S. but hungry to build a stateside profile. The early days were difficult, as the company tried to position itself as a video platform in an industry filled with established sports media brands.
Step by step, Juan Delgado and Perform have become one of the true global digital media powerhouses in sports. That original premise in digital video highlight syndication has played to a large-scale joint venture in Sporting News Media that in turn has aligned with Fox Sports
{podcast}
SBJ Podcast:
Forty Under 40 editor Mark Mensheha and Executive Editor Abraham Madkour discuss this year's class, some of the more interesting stories in it and how the selection process works.
to become one of the sports industry’s most trafficked destinations. In short order, the Perform portfolio has generated a monthly audience of more than 100 million unique visitors and now competes squarely against the heavyweights of the industry.
Perform recently reorganized itself into two divisions, one a content operation that conducts business-to-business data licensing and other similar activities, and a global media outfit run by Delgado that encompasses the Sporting News Media interest, Goal.com and other sister media properties.
“This gives a lot more scale, and the ability to really think on a global level,” Delgado said. “By thinking vertically instead of geographically, we’ve opened up a wide range of opportunities.”
— Eric Fisher
