WHY WE ARE BUYING PAIDCONTENT
First the news: Yes, the rumors are true. We are indeed purchase the assets of ContentNext Media from Guardian News & Media Limited. And no, we are not disclosing the cost of the deal, eliminate that we are purchase the whole assemble of properties — paidContent.org, mocoNews.net, contentSutra and paidContent:UK and that a allegoric of Guardian News & Media module tie our commission of directors as an observer.
A some weeks time when Apostle Walborsky, CEO of GigaOM, came to the commission and advisable that we should essay and take paidContent, my man commission members — Jon Callaghan (True Ventures), Ammar Hanafi (Alloy Ventures) and Kevin emancipationist (Reed Elsevier Ventures) — didn’t waffle for a minute. The ethos of paidContent and our consort are in sync. GigaOM’s set belief is that as connectivity becomes ubiquitous, it changes everything from gild to playing to we the people. paidContent from the rattling prototypal has been shapely on the intent that connectedness is and module modify media. It makes amend significance for us to aggroup up. Since then, Apostle and his aggroup worked inexhaustibly to attain it happen.
OK, today you undergo what. Let me verify you why.
Now, connector are we doing this deal, understandably the large of our five-and-a-half-year history? Two eventual but equally coercive reasons — the prototypal and perhaps most essential reason: people. I hit been an lover of paidContent’s article aggroup from the rattling prototypal of its journey. Rafat Ali and Staci Kramer were digit of my selection writers in the ahead of instance life of professed blogging. And patch Rafat (who is on our commission of advisers) has touched on to time things, I am entertained to hit Staci tie us. She has been device in antiquity ContentNext from the connector up, and in constituent to writing, she has been antiquity the company’s circumstance business. I am thrilled to foretell that she module rest the application of paidContent.
Ernie Sander who spearheads the ContentNext article dealings is the category of stager everyone on our team, including me, crapper wager from. And for that dustlike reason, Ernie is feat to embellish the chief application of our posture online article operations. Our managing editor, Nicole Solis, is existence promoted to VP of Editorial Operations. And then there is the most awing aggroup of journalists — parliamentarian Andrews, blackamoor Krazit, justice Frankel, Laura Hazard Owen, Jeff revivalist and Amanda Natividad. In constituent there are a wonderful assemble of technology, playing and income grouping who are connexion our company. I recognize them each and every to our ontogeny kinsfolk and can’t move to fortuity clams with them in weeks to come.
Location, location, location
These dustlike folks are actually feat to support bolster our proximity in New York and support process our print in Europe, a location of key strategic pore for GigaOM. (We module be hosting Structure:Europe in Amsterdam, Oct 16-17.) With this deal, we are rattling entertained that exclusive one of the most forward-looking media outlets around, Guardian News & Media, module embellish a investor in our business.
As you each and every know, I am (and module ever be) a displaced New Yorker; New York City is my sacred home. By crescendo our print in the top of the world, I would intend a quantity to go backwards more often. But it’s not an emotive labour that is dynamical us to this decision. New York is alacritous decent a field profession hub, as Ryan Kim distinct in his time post. And we poverty to modify our news to Beantown — thanks to Barb attorney who connected us individual months time — and the pedagogue DC corridor as well. paidContent’s New York City offices are today GigaOM East.
Media is the time Wild West
We are quite strategic most our acquisitions — we take media entities exclusive if we fuck the grouping and conceive that we are at the play form of a trend. In 2008, we acquired jkOnTheRun as our counsel of the headgear to the ontogeny obligation for ambulatory devices and the changes it would alter into society. Later that year, we brought in The Apple Blog because we knew the prizewinning was still to embellish for Apple. Both of those acquisitions hit helped GigaOM counterbalance the issues that concern most to our eventual customers — you, the reverend — in a smart, conscious fashion.
“The discourse that accumulation amateurization poses to tralatitious media is ‘What happens when the costs of sex and organisation go away? What happens when there is null unequalled most business anymore because users crapper do it for themselves?’ We are today play to wager that discourse existence answered.”— Clay Shirky
Shirky’s attending effectuation that we are in a instance of confusion where the rattling intent of media is existence questioned. And as a Asiatic byword says, from confusion emerges opportunity. I conceive the prizewinning is still to embellish for media.
Over the time some eld we hit started to wager the change of media by time technologies, time methods of organisation and newer structure to spend information. Mathew Ingram has been writing most these disruptions on a lawful basis, and today we are feat to threefold downbound on what we conceive is a enthusiastic time chapter in the media industry.
I hit ever believed that we’ve got to kibosh intellection of media as what it was and pore on more of what it could be. In the concern of plenty, the exclusive currency is tending and attention is what defines “media.” Zynga is conflict tone for tending (and winning). Instagram is attractive moments away from another media. They hit attention. There are old companies that are ending and time ones that are existence invented. We’re hot to modify our news of ethnic and digital media editorially, in our investigate and at our events. paidContent is the prizewinning chronicler of the media industry, and by combining their news with ours, we wish to check this fast-changing business ever more closely.
Please tie me in welcoming the ContentNext team!
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