Readers of my blog are usually 'techies' and follow many online sources for tech information. These have included industry giants such as Wired, ReadWriteWeb, Techcrunch, and Gigaom as well as companies like Business Insider, Recode, Vice, Politico, Vox and BuzzFeed?
Without any forewarning, GIGAOM ceased operations yesterday. Their website is still online (as of 1300 hrs, PDT) . It is a worthwhile look while it is still up. Hopefully someone will archive it for history buffs.
In the week and a half since the technology news site Gigaom stopped publishing, it has been held up as a cautionary tale for media in a go-go era. Here was a news organization that once looked promising, but had collapsed so unexpectedly that its reporters were working on stories right up to the moment they were told they were out of jobs.
Could the same fate befall other apparent darlings of media’s new gilded age — companies like Business Insider, Recode, Vice, Politico, Vox and BuzzFeed? Many of them, like Gigaom, have raised boatloads of financing and have tried to create a mix of businesses, including advertising, conferences and subscriptions, to turn a profit. But Gigaom’s downfall does not offer easy lessons for media start-ups. Gigaom, pronounced Giga-ohm, was special, and not in a good way, according to more than half a dozen staffers and executives, many of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity, citing nondisclosure agreements with the company. It was a company troubled by poor leadership, a history of spending beyond its means and an inattention to major problems that had dogged its businesses for years.
i will miss this gem of a website. Although plagued with poor and misaligned management it always seemed to be one of the first with breaking techie treats.
Started by Om Malik in (2009) who left the company one year ago, it had a significant following and a large research department. Mr. Malik had a broad background in financing and publisihing, having worked for Forbes.
Malik moved to New York City in 1993 to be a writer for India Abroad and then for Forbes.[3] He was also a senior writer forRed Herring, focusing on the telecommunications sector, and later became a senior writer there. In late 1994, he launched DesiParty.com, an events site for Indian immigrants. That same year, he co-founded the South Asian Journalists Association(SAJA). In 1995 he helped launch the now-defunct magazine, Masala, and its website Masala.com, a South Asian portal.
In 1997, Malik was on the original team at Forbes.com led by David Churbuck. In 1999 he left Forbes.com to work in theventure capital world, serving as an investment manager at Hambrecht & Quist Asia Pacific; his stay there lasted only a few months because he decided he preferred being a writer.
In 2000, he moved to San Francisco, California to write for Business 2.0 magazine. In 2001, he started GigaOM, a blogpublished by GigaOmniMedia, Inc. in San Francisco.[4] The website has a monthly global audience of 500,000,[4] is among the top 50 blogs worldwide by Technorati Rank,[5] and is part of CNet's 100 Most Influential Blogs.[6]
His first book, Broadbandits: Inside the $750 Billion Telecom Heist, was released on May 15, 2003.[7] Malik's writings have also appeared in newspapers and magazines such as The Wall Street Journal, Brandweek, and Crain's New York Business.
Malik announced on June 12, 2006, that he was going to work on GigaOM full-time, although he is still a contributing editor and writes a column for Business 2.0. In addition to GigaOM, he also writes for the blogs Web Worker Daily and Tablatronic.
On July 25, 2007, Malik started an podcast on Revision3 called The GigaOm Show hosted by himself and Joyce Kim. On March 27, 2008 he put the show on hiatus to focus on other things, among them his health. The show primarily focuses on technology and business. Malik was also a frequent guest on the former CrankyGeeks podcast with John C. Dvorak.
On March 9, 2015, Malik announced on his blog that GigaOm, the company he left about a year ago, ceased operations and "and its assets are now controlled by the company’s lenders.[8]
We wish him well. Take care Om. Life is short. Thanks for the memories
No comments:
Post a Comment