New Mossberg/Swisher site Re/code, with backing from Comcast's NBCU and Windsor Media, launches

Tom Paine

Follow @phillytechnews

 Subscribe in a reader
Subscribe to Philadelphia Tech News by Email

Walt Mossberg and Kara Swisher's new site (their relationship with The Wall Street Journal
terminated at year's end, thus ending the old AllThingsD) is now live at Re/code.

The Mossberg/Swisher holding company, Revere Digital LLC, is launching the new site with
minority investments from Comcast's NBC Universal News Group and Windsor Media, an investment firm run by Terry Semel, former chief of Yahoo and Warner Brothers, it was formally announced yesterday.

See more on the background behind the deal from Fortune's Dan Primack.


Revere Digital LLC is also signing a separate content partnership with NBCUniversal News Group to partner on tech coverage, beginning today. The two companies will maintain editorial independence, the announcement says, though each will have access to the other's content.

Revere's major annual conference will be the 'Code' conference and will be held in late
May at the same California location that the annual AllThingsD conference was held.

The Journal's new site is called WSJD and the AllThingsD URL redirects to its home page. Headed by Global Technology Editor Jonathan Krim, its difficult so far to get a reading on what WSJD will look like beyond some of the blog content that the Journal has long produced, such as 'Digits'.

One of my biggest hopes for the new Mossberg/Swisher site was that it would eliminate
the usual page load lag of several seconds that existed on AllThingsD. So far, so good.

Links 12/9/2013: AllThingsD editors said to complete NBCUniversal deal; IMS Health may go public again

Follow @phillytechnews

 Subscribe in a reader
Subscribe to Philadelphia Tech News by Email


Verizon Is Acquiring Content Delivery Network EdgeCast For More Than $350 Million (TechCrunch)

IMS Health Said to Be Considering IPO in 2014 After 2010 Buyout (Bloomberg)
Headquartered in Connecticut, IMS Health maintains major facilities in Collegeville and
Plymouth Meeting.

AllThingsD Editors Are Said to Complete NBCUniversal Deal (Bloomberg)

Time Warner Cable Exec Addresses Sale Rumors (Hollywood Reporter)



Norcross-led firm boosts holdings in Inquirer parent
(Philadelphia Business Journal)


SAP InfiniteInsight® Solution Brings Predictive Analytics to Broad Spectrum of Users (PR Newswire)

SAP: Advanced Analytics Not Just For PhDs Anymore (Information Week)


IBM Announces Industry-Specific Cloud Services (CRM Daily)


CIOs question Meaningful Use Stage 2 extension (FierceHealthIT)

Life sciences IT execs plan business intelligence spending blitz (Fierce Biotech IT)

Unisys Scores Department of Energy Cloud Contract (Talkin' Cloud)



PhillyDeals: N.J. tech company feeling the lure of Philly (Philly.com: Philly Deals)

AllThingsD cutting ties with Dow Jones; Will Comcast's NBCU take stake in successor?

Tom Paine

Follow @phillytechnews

 Subscribe in a reader
Subscribe to Philadelphia Tech News by Email

AllThingsD is cutting its ties with Wall Street Journal parent Dow Jones (News Corp) and is setting out on a new course and seeking new partners.

Dow Jones confirmed on Thursday that AllThingsD principals Kara Swisher and Walt Mossberg were not renewing their contract with Dow Jones after this year. The AllThingsD brand remains property of Dow Jones, presumably unless it is acquired through some type of transaction.

Fortune (which broke the story) reported that Swisher and Mossberg were talking to potential investors about taking minority stakes in their new venture, and Comcast's NBCU was the primary one mentioned, although others are said to be interested as well.

In spite of its prominence in tech circles, the franchise itself is valued at between $30 and $40 million, and AllThingsD generates about $12 million in annual revenue, according to reports. The bulk of revenue and profits comes from its conferences. So an investment in Swisher & Mossberg's new venture would not be a big deal for NBCU financially. Another investor could concievably be a more traditional news website (somehow the Washington Post under its new owner comes to mind), or a financial investor. The ownership of the existing conference formats remains somewhat up in the air.

The AllThingsD team could be a nice brand extension for NBCU's CNBC business channel. Also I would suppose the possibility exits for a dedicated digital channel for tech news, more likely Over The Top rather than as part of a cable package. Of course, Comcast once owned TechTV before turning it into G4 (which just barely escaped being turned into the Esquire Network), though my fleeting memories of TechTV were that it was more focused on personal technology users than tech business news.

Walt Mossberg will discontinue his personal technology column in the Journal, which he was writing long before AllThingsD got started. Mossberg and Swisher are said to be principal owners of the ongoing corporation, with AllThingsD staffers under contract to that corporation, not the Journal. Swisher and Mossberg are eager to add more resources that they felt constrained from doing under the Dow Jones relationship, and expanding video production. Dow Jones also says it has plans to significantly boost its technology coverage.

Links 8/27/2013: Potential Fisker buyer has plans to start Delaware production

Follow @phillytechnews

 Subscribe in a reader
Subscribe to Philadelphia Tech News by Email


After soaking up $1.4B of investment, Fisker might sell for just $25M (VentureBeat)
German group's plans include starting up production at Wilmington plant.

Flash-Memory Firm Violin Memory Reveals Finances In IPO Filing (Wall Street Journal: Digits)
SAP one of its investors.

VMware’s Cloud And The Fit With IT, Cloud Foundry And OpenStack (TechCrunch)

Workday's Q2 stronger than expected, outlook raised (ZDNet)

America's most hated device: The cable box (Fortune Tech)

AllThingsD nears split with Dow Jones (Fortune Tech)
Report cites Comcast's NBCU as one possible bidder.


Apple TV Gets Vevo Music Videos, Disney And Disney XD, The Weather Channel And Smithsonian Content (TechCrunch)

Vertex Enterprise® Recognized as Visionary Technology by Ventana Research (Business Wire)

ThingWorx Expands Global Reach Through Value-Added Reseller Partnership with SPIMESENSE Technologies (Business Wire)

Resilience Capital Partners Acquires CableNet Services Unlimited As An Add-On Investment To Its Aero Communications Portfolio Company (PR Newswire)
CableNet is based in Boothwyn. It provides cable installation and support services; apparently Comcast is a customer in the Philadelphia area.