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

Tom Paine

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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.

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

Tom Paine

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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.

Daily Links 8/11/2011: Verizon strike in 5th day; LCB panel opposed wine kiosks in 2008

Silicon Valley’s Undertaker: ‘We’re Anticipating a Major Fallout’ (PE Hub)

Accelerators & Incubators: Dreamit Ventures Dreams Big (Portfolio.com)

A Simple PC For Seniors Is Complicated By Its Flaws (All Things Digital)
Walt Mossberg reviews the Telikin, a PC designed with seniors in mind from Chalfont-based Venture 3 Systems LLC.

Cisco's Chambers: 'We Are Very Much Committed' To Set-Tops
CEO Says Scientific Atlanta Group Revenue Up 11% for Fiscal Year 2011 (Multichannel News)


Would-Be Hulu Buyers Will Have Their Checkbooks Ready Next Week (All Things Digital)

Comcast Seeks Safeguards From Failed Blockbuster Disc Rental Venture (Home Media Magazine)


Disney to put its shows behind a pay wall online, too (Gigaom)

Verizon Cites 90-Plus Acts Of Sabotage On Fifth Day Of Strike
Telco Claims 91% of Customer-Service Calls Were Answered Wednesday (Multichannel News)

Verizon sees FiOS less profitable than copper (Reuters)

Pa. Liquor Control Board was warned on wine kiosks
Employees were told to discard copies of committee's concerns (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)


Eisai Inc. Selects Cloud-Based Veeva CRM to Replace Multiple On-Premise Sales Support Systems (Business Wire)
Based in California, Veeva has much of its US customer-oriented operations located in the Philadelphia area.

RentTheCloud.com Debuts to Help CIOs Quickly and Safely Adopt Cloud Computing (PR Newswire)

MondoNet: Rutgers Academics Try to Built a New, Censorship-Proof Internet (Read Write Web)



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