In 1981, In The News, Inc. founder Tom Billinge pursued an idea to call the brides who appeared weekly in the Sunday newspaper to see if they would like to have their wedding announcement mounted and laminated.

This was the beginning of telemarketing in the laminated wall plaque industry.

Shortly thereafter, joined by long-time friend Barry Murante, they started "Laminations Unlimited". With little money, operating out of Tom's home, they tried to make a go of it but failed due to a lack of capital and a lack of leads in the Jacksonville area. AT&T had not divested and long distance phone bills were completely out of the question. Tom & Barry decided to go back into their respective careers.

The wanderlust that haunts every entrepreneur kept tugging at Tom's shirtsleeves and four years later Private Stock was born. Private Stock was a labor of love - Tom leased an office, bought some office equipment and was ready to sell custom cigars labeled, "Private Stock - The Finest in Hand Rolled Cigars". The cigar venture was about 10 years too early. Tom was about to hit rock bottom when he opened the business section of the daily paper and saw some promising feature articles that would make ideal plaques. He was once again inspired and determined to start making money!

Long distance rates had dropped drastically since the early 80's. Tom set up an account with a manufacturing company in Atlanta and Private Stock was back in business - Not Cigars - Plaques. In a few short months Tom had generated some cash flow; Private Stock had turned the corner.

In May of 1988 Tom purchased some equipment so that he could manufacture his own product. Once again, he persuaded Barry to join him. They drew up corporate papers, changed the company name and In The News, Inc. was born!

As we continue to grow so do the futures of In The News, Inc. employees. Today, we have over 90 employees. As we leap into the millennium our projected annual sales will meet 10 million. As one of the fastest growing corporations in the nation, our future is now more exciting than ever.