Old Age, New Age Publishing: A Challenge
March 15, 2015
I don’t know much about “real” publishing. I read a case study of “The Long Story Behind Gigaom’s Sudden Demise.” According to the write up, the tech news and analysis business shut down without warning. The write up reported:
Over the course of eight years, Gigaom, founded by prominent technology journalist Om Malik, had raised around $40 million in equity and debt. Sources said that about $5 million of that came from a 2011 venture debt round led by Western Technology Investment, and in 2014 the company had raised yet more money to help pay that debt down. But, by the end of last year, Gigaom still had significant debt to service — people familiar with the company said it was spending around $400,000 a month on rent and interest payments.
One of the investors was Reed Elsevier, a giant sci-tech publishing company, which owns LexisNexis and other properties.
The article said:
Gigaom seemed to be a Web publisher that had figured out how to thrive by developing multiple revenue streams. In addition to its website, which the company said attracted an audience of 6.5 million people a month, Gigaom also had an events business and a research arm. The company had placed particular emphasis on building up research over the years, pointing to it as proof that readers would pay for high-quality content.
Guess not?
Stephen E Arnold, March 15, 2015
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