Tag Archives: Blogging
Ex-Houston columnist begins Forbes blog on energy
by Chris Roush
Loren Steffy, who left the Houston Chronicle last month after nine years as its business columnist, has started a blog about energy on Forbes.com.
Steffy writes, “First, a little bit about me. I spent nine years as the business columnist for the Houston Chronicle, and when you cover business in the world’s energy capital, you devote a lot of column inches to energy issues.
“Prior to that, I spent 12 years at Bloomberg News as the Dallas bureau chief and a senior writer. I also wrote a book about the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster, Drowning in Oil: BP and the Reckless Pursuit of Profit.
“I hope that this blog will be a hearty discussion of energy issues, from topics such as offshore drilling safety to public policy, from electricity deregulation to alternative energy. To kick things off, I’ve already loaded some headline grabs of articles I found interesting. For mobile readers, you can also find these and other articles of interest, including posts from this site, in my Flipboard magazine, Energy Insights.
“As the blog grows and evolves, I hope you will share your thoughts and insights, too. Tips and topic suggestions are always welcome. So with that, let’s get to it.”
Bloomberg launches personal finance blog
by Chris Roush
Bloomberg.com has started a personal finance blog called Ventured & Gained.
“We’re doing this following the success of our personal finance channel,” said Suzanne Woolley, who is overseeing the blog. “We believe we can weigh in in a lively and insightful way to all manner of issues confronting Americans’ personal balance sheets. We have an incredible talent pool at Bloomberg to draw from and will cover the world of personal finance from all angles — from the emotions surrounding our money to the best ways to save and invest our money.”
The blog is a a cross-platform collaboration. The team includes:
- Woolley, who ran the personal finance section at BusinessWeek before joining Bloomberg in the acquisition. She relaunched its personal finance channel on the web;
- Nikhil Hutheesing, formerly of AOL and Forbes;
- Ben Steverman, who wrote for BusinessWeek.com and Investors Business Daily before joining Bloomberg.
Other key contributors include Rick Levinson, who headed up personal finance for Bloomberg News before becoming associate strategies editor at Bloomberg Markets; Eric Balchunas, an exchange-traded fund analyst for Bloomberg; and Peggy Collins, a personal finance reporter for Bloomberg News.
Some serious love for WSJ’s MoneyBeat
by Chris Roush
Joshua Brown of The Reformed Broker has praise for The Wall Street Journal’s new blog called MoneyBeat.
Brown writes, “In an era when everyone in financial media is spreading out their resources and chasing new verticals for pageviews on a quest to gain “traction” among this or that ancillary audience, the Wall Street Journal has just done something very smart – they went the other way.
“On April 15th, the WSJ rolled out a new blog format that combined six of their best blogs (MarketBeat, The Source, Overheard and all the global Deal Journals) into one Voltron-esque sheet entitled MoneyBeat. Now you’re getting market action, M&A, trading, investing, analyst and strategist calls and more in one feed.
“If you’ve been seeing a lot of MoneyBeat lately it’s probably because the content is being heavily shared and linked to from my site and many others. Consensus among the bloggers I talk to is that the WSJ has nailed it. Even Barry likes it and he usually hates anything new that disrupts his flow.
“MoneyBeat is now comprehensive enough to challenge DealBook and FT Alpha but it remains focused enough on investing so as to stand apart. BTW, we’re still waiting for the Bloomberg market blog page (with View columnists I suppose?) but I fear that each post will be 48 paragraphs long, extending down to the floor.”
Read more here.
Ex-Marketwatch columnist Friedman has new job
by Chris Roush
Jon Friedman, the media columnist for Marketwatch.com who was among the layoffs earlier this year, has found a new job.
Friedman tells Talking Biz News that he has created and launched the Media Matrix blog for Indiewire.com.
“This blog will be an informative, provocative and (I hope) irreverent look at the blessed media establishment,” said Friedman in a message.
“The blog will cover everything from the business news of the media to Smart TV to critiques of the media’s performance (as in the coverage of the Boston Marathon bombings, for example), to game-changing technologies such as Aereo to media-industry leaders,” added Friedman. “I it created for IndieWire and it launched on April 8. I will be blogging, as the Kinks, sang, all day and all of the night.”
Friedman wrote the Media Web column. Before joining MarketWatch in 1999, he covered business and finance for almost two decades for USA Today, BusinessWeek, Bloomberg News and Investors Business Daily.
He is co-author of the expose “House of Cards: Inside the Troubled Empire of American Express” (1992, Putnam) as well as a recent book on musician Bob Dylan. His freelance pieces have appeared in the magazine and business sections of the Sunday New York Times, the American Banker and other publications.
He appears frequently on television and radio programs to discuss news issues, and in 2010 he launched the Web TV show, “Media Matters with Jon Friedman.”
WSJ starts MoneyBeat blog
by Chris Roush
The Wall Street Journal announced Tuesday the launch of MoneyBeat, a new blog dedicated to global finance, markets, and mergers and acquisitions.
Drawing from the Journal’s global pool of reporting, MoneyBeat explains, critiques and analyzes trends and news stories in finance, markets and deal-making.
The new blog brings together six of the Journal’s most widely read blogs, including MarketBeat, The Source, Overheard and all the Deal Journals across the globe, into a single, integrated hub of news and analysis.
The blog’s tone, content and writing style is designed to complement the Journal’s outstanding financial coverage by delving deeper into the world of markets and finance and bringing out the personalities behind the news, from deal-makers to hedge fund giants and private-equity titans.
“MoneyBeat is a one-stop shop for everybody interested in finance and markets, no matter where they are around the world,” said Gerard Baker, managing editor of The Journal, in a statement. “With its vast network of journalists and editors, the Journal is uniquely positioned to deliver lively, round-the-clock news and analysis from the U.S., Asia and Europe. MoneyBeat is an indispensable companion for anybody who cares about markets and finance.”
MoneyBeat is overseen by former Deal Journal and MarketBeat editor Stephen Grocer.
Bloggers and the economy
by Chris Roush
The annual Economics Bloggers Forum, held Friday, brings together leading economists and bloggers to share perspectives on the business of blogging and the most pressing topic of the day – the economy.
The Kauffman Foundation is holding the forum to stimulate new ideas, new thinking, and new policies that support the entrepreneurship and innovation that is critical to our economic recovery.
Here is a panel discussion titled Economic and Financial Weblogging and the Future and Sustainability of Financial Journalism
The panel includes Cardiff Garcia, Joe Weisenthal, and Allison Schrager; the moderator is George Kahn.
Other panels can be viewed here.
Tech site ZDNet is cutting bloggers
by Chris Roush
Business technology news site ZDNet has cut five bloggers from its staff in the past few weeks as it continues to realign its organization into a global one, reports Sean Ludwig of VentureBeat.com
Ludwig writes, “ZDNet has a long history of writing about the technology industry, and CNET acquired it for $1.6 billion in July 2000. In 2003, ZDNet refocused to more closely cover business technology. In May 2008, CBS Interactive purchased CNET, and since that time, ZDNet has existed as a combination of technology blog network and news outlet.
“In July, ZDNet decided to combine all of its international sites into one editorial team (and one budget) and since that time, it has been focused on expanding into a global network. ZDNet currently has more than 80 bloggers contracted for its blog network and 40 full-time ZDNet staffers.
“But with that shift comes cuts to its U.S. operations, and several of its bloggers have penned farewell posts lately. Today, Joel Evans — the co-founder of Geek.com and a long-time gadget writer at ZDNet — said his goodbye.
“‘Today is my last day writing for ZDNet,’ Evans wrote. ‘I wanted to write a personal thank you to you, the readers, and to my coauthor, Matt Miller, and of course the fine folks at ZDNet, including my editor, David Grober. ZDNet has given me a place to call home, where I could write about anything I wanted, anytime I wanted.’”
AllThingsD considers split from News Corp.
by Chris Roush
AllThingsD, the widely read technology blog run by Kara Swisher and Walt Mossberg, has begun discussions with owner News Corp about extending or ending their partnership, sources familiar with the situation told Reuters.
Peter Lauria and Nadia Damouni write, “According to these sources, AllThingsD’s contract with News Corp expires at the end of the year. One of the sources said Swisher and Mossberg have to deliver a business plan by next week to Robert Thomson, the former Wall Street Journal managing editor who will helm News Corp’s publishing unit as CEO after it is spun off.
“The fact that AllThingsD’s contract is up this year is well known, and sources said the website is receiving a lot of ‘inbound interest’ from potential buyers parallel to its talks with News Corp.
“Among the names mentioned as having reached out to AllThingsD were Conde Nast, where Swisher recently signed to work as a contributing writer for Vanity Fair, and Hearst.
“Sources also speculated that former Yahoo and News Corp executive Ross Levinsohn might be looking at the website given his new role as Chief Executive of Guggenheim Digital Media, which comes complete with “significant capital to acquire and invest in new media companies.” The private equity shop already owns Billboard, Hollywood Reporter, and Adweek.”
Read more here.
AOL confirms acquisition of tech site gdgt
by Chris Roush
Alexia Tsotsis and Ingrid Lunden of TechCrunch report that AOL has acquired tech news site gdgt for an undisclosed amount.
Tsotsis and Lunden write, “Financial terms of the deal have not been disclosed, but we have heard that the deal was in the high seven figures, and that there was another — higher — offer from another company but that gdgt’s co-founders, Ryan Block and Peter Rojas, went with AOL because it was a better fit.
“It seems poetic that future of a company so deeply embedded in the Internet’s past would hinge upon amassing properties that so vehemently chronicle its future. The deal will see Ryan Block take on a bigger role at AOL, where we have heard from sources that he will become head of product for AOL Tech Media, reporting to Jay Kirsch, and taking some of the learnings, technology and sensibility that he and Rojas have brought to gdgt and applying it across AOL’s portfolio of tech sites. In addition to TechCrunch, those sites include Engadget (which Rojas founded and Block used to edit), TUAW and Joystiq. In other words, the acquisition will give gdgt much greater scale for its product.
“With AOL’s tech portfolio heavy on blogs and news, gdgt will be bringing complementary content in the form of a huge database of gadget information, created with the aim of ‘improving the buying experience,’ in the words of Block.
“The move lets the two come full-circle and, for those who ever wondered, provides more color on why they left in the first place. ‘We didn’t leave Engadget (or AOL) because we were unhappy, we left to do gdgt because at the time it was tough to build something that was clearly not editorial,’ Block told me. ‘That’s obviously changed, and we’re excited to be able to continue to invest in and grow gdgt, while also bringing a lot of the stuff we’ve built to the rest of AOL Tech.’”
Read more here.
AOL negotiated to buy tech news site gdgt
by Chris Roush
AOL is negotiating to acquire the tech news and review site gdgt, reports Colleen Taylor of TechCrunch.
Taylor writes, “Sources tell me that a deal appears to be nearing closure in a matter of days.
“I’ve reached out both to gdgt and to executives at AOL for confirmation or comment, but have not yet received a response. The latter is kind of awkward because they are technically my co-workers and/or superiors (disclosure: AOL owns TechCrunch,) but it is par for the course when it comes to M&A rumors. Also, it feels a bit strange to report on deals that are being worked on within my own (really big) company, but this is the word I’m hearing — and in the end, I’m told, news is news.
“Gdgt’s parent company PastFuture has raised some $3.7 million from investors including Spark Capital, True Ventures, betaworks, AOL Ventures, Lerer Ventures, and others. The company has a staff of about 20. This is not the first time the company has been in sale talks — the company has reportedly received interest from CBS, Amazon, and CNET over the years. That of course means that this deal may not pan out, but I’m told that the current talks are indeed very serious.”
Read more here.
