AllThingsD » family

Yahoo's Marissa Mayer Leans In About How She Decided to Become CEO While Pregnant

Kara Swisher — Fri, 29 Mar 2013 20:55:30 +0000

Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer just posted a “lean-in” story on the new site launched by Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg in conjunction with her recent book, “Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead.”

Sandberg and her team have been encouraging women to post their personal stories of when they leaned into their careers and Mayer certainly does that in her post, including discussing taking the job at the top of the troubled Silicon Valley Internet company when she was seven months pregnant.

She wrote:

Looking back to reflect on the question: Could I really take the helm of Yahoo when I was 28 weeks pregnant? Even now, it sounds absolutely crazy. I considered if and how I could make it work: learning more about the role, getting words of encouragement from close friends and family, and developing a plan. I’ve always believed you can never have everything that you want, but with work and dedication, you can have the things that really matter to you. If I took the opportunity, it was clear that I would have to find a way to have time with my baby without a long maternity leave. I also knew going forward that there wouldn’t be much time beyond my job and my family for anything else. Ultimately, I decided I was fine with that, because my family and my job are what really matter to me.

In the piece, Mayer also noted that she jumped at the chance to run Yahoo, which had actually put Google in business in many ways with an early search deal. She started her career at the search giant and was one of its higher-ranking execs.

“The alignment with my experience and career was uncanny: search, email, homepage, news, finance, maps, social, mobile and more,” she wrote, although she also said that after “13 years of really hard work at Google, I had been envisioning a glorious six-month maternity leave.”

Not so. Mayer took off from Yahoo only a few weeks after she had her baby son last fall, and she said it has turned out well for her. “I’ve come to realize that being a mother makes me a better executive, because motherhood forces prioritization,” she wrote. “Being a mom gives you so much more clarity on what is important.”

Something to Be Thankful For: Brett Bullington's Recovery Path Is Made by Walking (Video)

Kara Swisher — Mon, 19 Nov 2012 18:12:43 +0000

Late last week, I made my way down to Santa Clara Valley Medical Center to visit Brett Bullington, the always energetic and ebullient Silicon Valley exec and investor.

He had gotten into a serious accident last month while cycling across the country to raise money and awareness for a charity in Africa, and had been hospitalized with severe brain trauma.

And, indeed, it was severe, with initial reports about his prognosis — on a Tumblr blog about him — pretty depressing to read. As in most cases, progress is usually slow and sometimes discouraging.

Not in Brett’s case, as it has turned out. As Spanish poet Antonio Machado wrote: “Travelers, there is no path, paths are made by walking.”

And as you can see from the video below, Brett is now walking and doing a very good job of it, considering. Most of all, he is getting better at it day by day.

Indeed, when I visited, I was a bit nervous to see him in a less-than-high-energy state I was used to. But while the room was dark when I walked in, because he was napping, the minute he awoke, he was the Brett I had always known.

He peppered me with questions about tech news, including on how Yahoo’s new CEO Marissa Mayer was doing, and what did I think of Facebook now, and how my partner, Megan Smith, was liking working at Google X.

Brett also felt badly about the accident, especially the toll it had taken on his family, but said few things that were not forward-looking.

As his wonderful wife, Diana, noted to me in an email, Brett is now “truly present.”

Let’s not kid ourselves — it will still be a tough road to recovery. Brett has a triangular-shaped head, due to the large part of his skull that was removed, which needs to be fixed via complex surgery. And he has some moments of forgetfulness and confusion — although they seemed rare when I was there. Most of all, this work is exhausting for him, especially since he is making major strides every day.

But, after seeing him, I am extraordinarily hopeful — Brett might not have recovered at all, and so it was a trip to have him ask me to help him organize a mani-pedi party when he gets home sometime in the first week of December.

Done.

In fact, Brett is going to leave the hospital this week for a day to be with his family on Thanksgiving, which is just the kind of thing to be truly thankful for.

Until he is out and about, here’s a video taken last week of him walking — the helmet is to protect his exposed head in case of a fall:

[ See post to watch video ]

October Surprise: Yahoo CEO Mayer and Husband Have Baby Boy

Kara Swisher — Mon, 01 Oct 2012 15:21:25 +0000

Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer had a baby sometime last night, according to a tweet by her husband Zach Bogue just this morning.

Baby boy Bogue born last night. Mom (@marissamayer) and baby are doing great–we couldn’t be more excited!

— Zachary Bogue (@zackbogue) October 1, 2012

The child is the couple’s first and it is not clear from the tweet whether he was delivered on September 30 or October 1. He is slightly early — Mayer had said that the child was due October 7.

No matter — congrats to the new parents!

Mayer announced her pregnancy at the same time it was unveiled that she would be taking over Yahoo in July. The former Google exec attracted some measure of discussion over her taking such a big job at the large and troubled company at such a delicate time.

That’s codswallop for a lot of reasons and probably moot for the highly functioning Mayer, who has said she plans to take a few weeks off. She is likely to bring her new son to work too.

It’s a new day, people, so get used to it.

And, once again, congratulations to the new family on beginning the best adventure of a lifetime.

Freed Moves From COO to Strategic Adviser at Etsy

Kara Swisher — Thu, 20 Sep 2012 21:29:40 +0000

According to an internal announcement today, Etsy COO Adam Freed will be shifting his job at the online marketplace for vintage and handmade goods to become a strategic adviser to CEO Chad Dickerson. The move for the former Google exec is personal, said sources — Freed recently had twins and has wanted to spend more time with his family. He’ll work part-time now on strategic initiatives at the New York-based Etsy.

How Private Can You Get? Origami's Social Network Takes Families Into the Fold.

Mike Isaac — Thu, 20 Sep 2012 17:00:03 +0000

The natural reaction to the meteoric rise of sites like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn is to pull back. We’ve seen it with Path and EveryMe, the latter being Oliver Cameron’s friends- and family-centric mobile application launched earlier this year.

Strange thing, these apps: As Cameron tells me, despite what they may be intended to do, users have a way of coopting technology to suit their own needs. As a result, apps like Path and, yes, EveryMe, can feel less intimate, open to far more people than perhaps you originally even wanted.

Enter Origami, Cameron’s new venture into scaling down social to the essentials in your life: Family. After Cameron saw that only 30 percent of EveryMe users were sharing with family — which was the original target group the app was intended to serve — he decided to build another product independent of EveryMe instead of drastically changing up his original app.

“People have valued their privacy for thousands of years,” Cameron told me. “With that in mind, we built Origami, something of a combination of Skype, Picasa and Facebook Groups. Think of it as a Google Apps for families.”

Instead of “relegating the ones we love into scheduled phone calls and greeting cards,” the idea is to incorporate family into our daily digital lives.

It is heavily video- and picture-focused, with an initial emphasis on building for the desktop — “However unfashionable that may be,” Cameron admits. But consider the demographic: Facebook’s high level of older users signed on to the desktop Web before mobile exploded, and Origami caters to that crowd of users.

Something else refreshing: Unlike Path, or the more granular Pair app (which is literally an app for two people), Origami comes with a built-in business model — it’s a premium service. Pay-to-play right from the start. Obviously that may affect user sign-ups initially, but it’s a way to start with revenue right off the bat.

The obvious question is, why reinvent the wheel? Users could just stick to Path or Facebook Groups, but be more judicious in who they add.

Cameron says that existing services that are trying to cater to families aren’t doing a good job of it. Either the user experience is terrible and not entirely family-oriented, or perhaps you make the mistake of adding a friend to your group instead of a family member — it changes the entire dynamic. Origami is aimed at family right from the get-go.

Cameron, co-founder Vibhu Norby and the Mountain View-based team of six will use the existing $4 million raised from rounds with Tencent and other seed investors to work on Origami, while still continuing to develop EveryMe as a separate, standalone product. Cameron told me that he prefers this instead of an outright pivot, though I imagine it may be difficult to focus on building two separate products simultaneously — especially if one takes off.

The company has opened Origami up in private beta beginning Thursday, and is now taking user sign-ups to slowly seed the product out to select groups for initial testing and learning.

We’ll have to wait and see if this time they can keep it in the family.

New CEO's Pregnancy Was Not an Issue for Yahoo Board

Kara Swisher — Tue, 17 Jul 2012 03:23:55 +0000

In weighing the selection of Marissa Mayer as its new CEO, sources close to the board of Yahoo said that it did not consider or even discuss the fact that she had informed them — as part of the process — that she is currently pregnant.

The issue is an interesting one, since she will be one of the first tech CEOs appointed who is having a baby relatively soon after she has taken on what is a very difficult job in turning around the troubled Silicon Valley Internet giant.

Many male CEOs have children while running companies, of course, which some feel is the same situation.

And, of course, Mayer’s capabilities as a CEO have nothing to do with whether she has kids or not, but the subject of gender has been a big topic of discussion and debate in tech of late.

And while it should go without saying that personal issues should not make a difference, they often can and do.

Not by the Yahoo board, apparently, which weighed only Mayer’s techie credentials in selecting her.

“It was not part of the consideration,” said one person close to the situation about the former Google exec. “Like every other professional woman, she has to weigh all the factors in doing her job and having a family.”

That said, Mayer’s pregnancy puts into sharp relief the issues around women’s leadership in tech. As the new CEO of Yahoo, she is now one of the most prominent execs in the digital realm, joining both Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg and Hewlett-Packard CEO Meg Whitman.

Sandberg has two small children and has talked publicly about the difficulty of juggling a family with a demanding job. Whitman’s children are adults, but she ran eBay when they were younger and has also discussed those challenges in raising them while leading a large company.

The baby will be Mayer’s first and several sources said she is due in the fall.

I tried several times to reach Mayer for comment earlier in the day about the issue, but she did not reply. That said — in an apparent (and vain) attempt to show me what’s what and good luck with that — she did confirm her pregnancy to Fortune magazine tonight.

The Draper Family Will See You Now

Kara Swisher — Thu, 14 Jun 2012 12:00:59 +0000

Hoo boy, are you going to enjoy this frothy piece coming from Fast Company magazine about the Draper family.

I mean: The Drapers of Silicon Valley!

Taking on the venture-capital-spawned dynasty, the article reads like the family is a tech version of the Kardashians, except with better eyebrows, and much smarter.

“Over the course of a half-century, the Draper family has carved out a name (and a fortune) in a place where breeding and ancestry are thought to be irrelevant,” reads the tag line of the story. “Now it’s time for the debut of the youngest generation.”

And so it is, as the article notes:

“The Draper VC dynasty began with General William Draper’s founding of Draper, Gaither & Anderson in 1958. A few years later, his son Bill started the Draper & Johnson Investment Co. (1962), followed by Sutter Hill Ventures (1965). Bill’s son, Tim, founded Draper Fisher Jurvetson in 1985. The fourth generation is striking out on its own — but still staying close to home. Jesse, 28, is a producer and host of The Valley Girl Show; Adam, 26, is a cofounder of the firm Xpert Financial; Billy, 23, is founder of the startup Mobber.net.”

It is a pretty impressive pedigree and well worth the read.

Citrus Lane Raises $5 Million for Monthly Care Packages for Moms and Kids

Tricia Duryee — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 07:00:59 +0000

Citrus Lane, which offers subscribers a monthly care package aimed at mothers and babies, has raised $5.1 million in a first round of funding.

Investors participating in the round include GGV Capital and Greylock Partners. The Mountain View, Calif., company said it will use the money to expand and hire additional employees.

Business models like Citrus Lane’s are getting pretty popular. Members sign up for a monthly subscription and get a package of products in the mail based on a particular theme.

My colleague Lauren Goode recently wrote about how Birchbox.com was branching out from sending beauty products to women to sending grooming products and consumer-tech gadgets for men. And, there are plenty of apparel companies that are also trying out the model, including Shoedazzle.

Citrus Lane’s box costs $25 a month, and offers two different versions — one for pregnant women and another for young children and parents. Contents include four to five items based on the child’s age — newborn to three years old — and include toys, snacks and other activities.

Citrus Lane Announces $5.1 Million Series A Funding from GGV Capital and Greylock Partners

Helps Parents Discover ‘Best Of’ Products For Little Ones

Mountain View, CA (April 25, 2012) – Citrus Lane (www.citruslane.com), a subscription e-commerce site that is focused on getting useful, developmentally appropriate and delightful products to young families, today announced that it has raised $5.1 million in Series A funding from GGV Capital and Greylock Partners. The company will use the funds to continue to expand its business and add critical new hires.

Each month, Citrus Lane members receive a care package of four to five “best of” products based on their child’s age for $25 per month. Citrus Lane curates its recommendations from partner brands such as Green Toys, Weleda, Zoli and Episencial.

All products are vetted by real moms. Citrus Lane also provides members with monthly editorial tips and insights and an active, vocal Facebook community of moms.

Founders Mauria Finley and Claire Hough are former executives of companies such as eBay, PayPal and NexTag that defined the first generation of Internet commerce companies. Citrus Lane combines a new generation of ecommerce with a social experience to provide a vibrant online community as well as a distribution platform for its partner brands.

“We’re building a company that helps moms – and dads – discover the best products for their babies and toddlers with the help of a trusted resource,” said Mauria Finley, founder and CEO of Citrus Lane. “We’re thrilled to have the support of Greylock and GGV Capital – they understood our business from the start and will be important partners as Citrus Lane continues to grow.”

Citrus Lane raised a seed round of financing in March 2011 and shipped its first boxes in July 2011.

“Citrus Lane is all about customer engagement. Build-and-grow models like Citrus Lane that focus on great service and consistent, long-term
word-of-mouth growth create the best opportunity for sustained growth,” said Jeff Richards, Partner, GGV Capital and new Citrus Lane board member. “We’re excited to be working with the company and look forward to working with them as they become the leader in subscription commerce.”

Health Help: Former Sun CEO Jonathan Schwartz Talks About New CareZone Start-Up (Video)

Kara Swisher — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 05:01:08 +0000

I certainly was not expecting the kind of start-up that former Sun Microsystems CEO Jonathan Schwartz — he of the fantastic ponytail — showed off to me at AllThingsD.com Global HQ earlier this week.

No enterprise. No servers. No software.

Instead, a very intriguing new social networking site called CareZone, aimed at helping people managing chronic health care issues, whether it be elderly parents, sick children or others.

The private site, subscription-based and without advertising, feels like Facebook for dealing with illness, creating an online community among family members, as well as others involved in the care.

Among the features: Profiles, journals, contacts, medication information and a lockbox for key files such as advance directives, to-dos and notes.

Having just endured my own health care issue, I can tell you all the things to take care of become pretty complex and confusing, and are mostly done via email, paper and phone calls.

Schwartz said the idea came from his own difficult experience with his child, who has a chronic illness, as well as a recent health crisis his father had.

He is bootstrapping the seven-person start-up, based in San Francisco, which he founded with Apple and Microsoft vet Walter Smith, who is CareZone’s CTO.

The cost is $48 a year, or a monthly fee of $5, for a each patient.

Here’s the video interview I did with Schwartz on CareZone:

[ See post to watch video ]

Exclusive: Disney Acquires "Sophisticated" Mommy Blog Platform Babble Media

Kara Swisher — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 14:45:42 +0000

Disney, which has been busy reorganizing its interactive group, is buying Babble Media, a New York-based parenting platform that features several hundred mom bloggers.

The entertainment giant declined to provide the purchase price for the New York-based start-up, which was founded by aiming at urban hipster parents and has garnered more than $6 million in funding since it was spun off from Nerve Media several years ago.

Babble’s venture investors include Greycroft Partners, Village Ventures and iNovia Capital.

Co-founders Rufus Griscom and Alisa Volkman and the rest of the 40-person Babble staff will join the Disney Interactive Media Group unit as part of its Moms and Family portfolio, Disney said in its official press release (see below).

Disney described Babble as the “premier blogging platform for a new generation of connected parents.” To me, that roughly translates into Brooklyn-living, Bugaboo-pushing, organic arugula-eating, yoga-calm moms and sensitive New Age dads.

But don’t take my word for it — today’s front page features on Babble include “15 Vegan Recipes for Thanksgiving” and “Is It Selfish to Have One Child?” (Yum and kinda!)

The next obvious stop for its audience, after the kids get a little bigger: Gwyneth Paltrow’s fabulously twee and irksomely addictive GOOP.

But Brooke Chaffin, who is SVP of Moms and Family in the Disney Interactive Media Group, said in an interview that the highly interactive content site with a definite “sophisticated” editorial voice has become mainstream, and is actually where the whole category is going.

“Babble is sharing the experience and stories on a daily basis through the parents lens,” she said. “And it brings in a blog network that is so important to this audience, because it’s by, for and about parents, and that’s far more important for them than experts.”

There will be that, too, said Chaffin, who noted the site has grown 100 percent year over year. It is now up to four million unique monthly visitors.

Disney plans to add its more evergreen family-focused content to Babble, to give it more heft to compete with other similar parenting sites, such as Johnson & Johnson-owned BabyCenter, NBC’s iVillage, Parents.com and CafeMom.

Interestingly, Disney had taken a gander at buying CafeMom a while back.

Chaffin, who came to Disney earlier this year after a stint at Auditude and a long time at Yahoo, said Babble has carved out a unique niche in combining content with social — the current gold ring for a lot of publishers.

“What Babble is doing is best of breed … it is just a different approach to blogging,” she said. “It felt like we at Disney are about storytelling and Babble does an amazing job doing just that.”

Added Jimmy Pitaro, co-President of Disney Interactive Media Group: “Disney has a long legacy of storytelling, and no mom-blog platform empowers storytelling better or more powerfully than Babble. Babble is a strategic complement to our Moms and Family portfolio of sites, which together make up a business that is critical to Disney Interactive’s mission of delivering world-class products and content and growing engagement among our guests.”

In other words: Mainstream and hipster!

Here’s the Disney official press release:

THE WALT DISNEY COMPANY ACQUIRES LEADING ONLINE PARENTING PLATFORM BABBLE MEDIA, INC.

Burbank, California — November 14, 2011 — The Walt Disney Company, through its wholly owned subsidiary Disney Online, has acquired Babble Media, Inc., a leading online parenting platform featuring more than 200 influential mom bloggers. The acquisition of Babble further strengthens the position of Disney Interactive Media Group’s Moms and Family portfolio as a leading online resource for moms and families.

Disney Interactive’s Moms and Family portfolio is a trusted resource for parents today, giving them the online tools and information they need and the ability to share their experiences. Through the acquisition of Babble, Disney Interactive’s Moms and Family business gains a blogging platform that elevates the first-person stories of parenthood.

Since its inception in 2006, Babble has become one of the most celebrated parenting sites on the web, named by Time Magazine as one of the 50 Best Websites of 2010 and by Forbes as one of the Top 100 Websites for Women. Its stable of bloggers contribute daily to parenting topics including pregnancy, child care, health, food, family activities as well as lifestyle topics such as home, fashion and family products. As the premier blogging platform for a new generation of connected parents, Babble has created a vibrant community of parents who support, encourage and celebrate the highs and lows of raising children.

Babble attracts a broad and engaged audience with its nearly constant stream of posts, written for and by moms. Disney Interactive will infuse its Moms and Family evergreen content into Babble, thereby enriching the Babble user experience and extending the best of what Disney has to offer to today’s parents.

“Parents’ relationships with Disney are founded in stories, and Disney’s best stories are about families. We believe that Babble and Disney can harness the power of storytelling to inform, entertain and empower parents everywhere,” said Brooke Chaffin, SVP of Moms and Family, Disney Interactive Media Group. “With more than 3.9 million mom blogs in the US alone, Disney Interactive recognizes and values the important and powerful role moms have taken on in new media.”

“We can’t imagine a better next step than joining the world’s leading media company for families, The Walt Disney Company, and look forward to bringing together Babble’s resonant voice and community with Disney’s expansive family audience, wide range of content and multi-media platform,” said Rufus Griscom and Alisa Volkman, Co-Founders of Babble.

Babble will remain headquartered in New York. Rufus Griscom and Alisa Volkman will join the Disney Interactive Media Group.

HuffPost at One Biiiilllliiion Monthly Page Views: More Buying, More Launching, More Hiring

Kara Swisher — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 08:15:40 +0000

The Huffington Post Media Group, which says it has topped one billion page views for the month of August, has bought an online grassroots platform called Localocracy.

The price for the site, whose key execs will join the AOL content unit, is under $1 million, said sources close to the situation.

The HuffPost also announced it was hiring Lisa Belkin from the New York Times to be a senior columnist covering parenting and family issues.

The latest hiring and purchase are part of a number of moves at the news and blog site, which has been frantically expanding its offerings since it was acquired by AOL.

That now includes four more sections launching this week — Huff/Post50; HuffPost Gay Voices; HuffPost Weddings; and HuffPost High School — bringing the grand total of new sites to 21 since the Huffington Post officially merged with AOL in March.

“We want to launch sections for every interest and passion our readers have.” said HuffPost head Arianna Huffington in an interview yesterday. “Whatever your interest, we want to provide the latest content and stories and most advanced tools for engagement.”

And, presumably, get the most traffic from it all. Along with the record one billion page views, the site also said it had 37 million unique visitors in August, the largest number it has posted yet, with 5.1 million comments.

Here’s the official press release for the whole kitchen-sink shebang:

The Huffington Post Media Group Makes Key Announcements:

Acquires Localocracy, Pioneering Online Grassroots Platform, and Hires its
Leadership Team: Conor White-Sullivan, Aaron Soules and Jay Boice

Launches Four Huffington Post Sections This Week: Huff/Post50, with Rita Wilson as Editor-at-Large; HuffPost Gay Voices; HuffPost Weddings; and HuffPost High School; Group is latest of 21 new sites since The Huffington Post Merged with AOL in March

Hires Lisa Belkin from The New York Times as Senior Columnist
Covering Parenting, Work/Life Balance, and Family

Announces Record Huffington Post Size and Engagement, with Largest Number of UVs and Comments Ever, and Site Topping 1 Billion Page Views for First Time

New York, NY — October 3, 2011 – The Huffington Post Media Group (“HPMG”), a leading source of news, opinion, entertainment, community and digital information, today makes several key announcements: (1) HPMG is acquiring Localocracy, a groundbreaking online engagement platform enabling citizens to solve problems in their communities, and its founders, Conor White-Sullivan and Aaron Soules, and technology lead, Jay Boice, are joining the Huffington Post Media Group to work on the intersection of editorial and technology, and deepen the sites’ engagement with users; (2) The Huffington Post (“HuffPost”) is launching four sites this week; today, Huff/Post50, with Rita Wilson as editor-at-large; HuffPost Gay Voices; and HuffPost Weddings; tomorrow, HuffPost High School. They are the latest of 21 new verticals since The Huffington Post merged with AOL in March; (4) Lisa Belkin is joining HPMG as Senior Columnist from The New York Times, where she wrote the “Motherlode” blog. She’ll be covering parenting, work/life balance and family; and (5) HuffPost has recently achieved record size and engagement, with its largest number of UVs ever, 37MM*, and greatest number of monthly comments, 5.1MM. In an important milestone, the site also surpassed 1 billion page views for the first time.*

“I’m delighted to announce that Conor White-Sullivan, Aaron Soules and Jay Boice are joining our team,” said Arianna Huffington. “They’re pioneers in using the web to empower citizens to improve their towns, and their unique vision and talents will enable us to deepen our users’ engagement with our sites. We’re also excited to be launching HuffPost/50, HuffPost Gay Voices, HuffPost Weddings and HuffPost High School, the latest sections in our continued effort to provide content, community and a platform for expression for our readers’ every interest and passion. We’re also thrilled to welcome Lisa Belkin, who has built a large following with her writing on parenting and work/life balance issues, and who is a leader in online community building. She’ll be launching her ‘Parentlode’ blog on October 17th.”

Creating and Nurturing Online Communities to Make Lives Better

Localocracy was founded in Amherst, Massachusetts, in 2009 as an online forum encouraging citizens to engage in local issues, share concerns and opinions, and rank problem-solving ideas. Its goal was to surface problems and employ the power of persuasion to spotlight solutions to issues big and small. At HPMG, founders White-Sullivan and Soules will build on their innovative approach to enhancing local democracy while leveraging HPMG’s powerful online community platform to engage its large and networked audience. Also joining the Group from Localocracy is Jay Boice, who will be instrumental in building new technologies to support enhanced online community interaction.

Said Conor and Soules: “What we’ve learned with Localocracy is that by harnessing user-generated content, we’re able to unleash a lot of people power. Our methodology is simple: we believe that everyone is an expert about something, so we want to give voice to that expertise and allow an exchange of ideas for all to see and participate in. We’re excited to be teaming up with The Huffington Post Media Group, a leader in social news and user engagement, and look forward to pushing the boundaries of what can be done when combining journalism and technology for the common good.”

Four New Sites; Four New Communities

The Huffington Post Media Group announces today the launch of four destination sites: Huff/Post50 (www.huffingtonpost.com/50), HuffPost Gay Voices (www.huffingtonpost.com/gay-voices) and HuffPost Weddings (www.huffingtonpost/weddings). Each offers HuffPost’s unique combination of real-time news and opinion, and passionate communities powered by a leading social news platform.

HuffPost/50 — whose Editor-at-Large is actress, producer and writer Rita Wilson — covers the challenges, complexities and joys facing the boomer generation, now 77 million people strong. It spotlights boomers who fearlessly tackle new challenges in the spirit of reinventing themselves, regardless of age, and encourages boomers to question conventional wisdom about aging. Topics being covered include: longevity, relationships and sex, politics, the intense “sandwich” pressure of simultaneously taking care of aging parents and children, retirement, spirituality and religion, friendship, politics and dying.

The site is meant to be thought-provoking yet also humorous and life-affirming, and while encouraging boomers to seize the present, Huff/Post50 welcomes reflection and the sharing of hard-earned wisdom. The site is a rare platform for people 50 and older who want to share what’s on their minds. Bloggers on the section include: Bill Maher, ABC News’ Christiane Amanpour, and musicians Ann and Nancy Wilson.

Said Rita Wilson: “The idea that we boomers are somehow supposed to wind things down as we get older completely escapes me. Exploring the minds and hearts of this group of people is exciting. It’s never too late to mix things up, change your life, to get to what you really should be doing — or want to be doing. As Mark Twain said, ‘Age is an issue of mind over matter. If you don’t mind, it doesn’t matter.’”

HuffPost High School, launching tomorrow, is a place for teens to engage with one another about what’s really happening in their lives — socially, academically, and culturally. The site features some of the nation’s top high school journalists and is a dynamic platform for teen bloggers. It’s a go-to guide for everything teens care about, from college prep, the nuances of social networking, culture, and celebrity gossip to high school sports, comedy, politics, the prom and beyond.

HuffPost Gay Voices, also launching today, covers the complexities of the LGBT community, from family and faith to politics and sexuality. The section covers news, culture, and trends, and offers opinion that spotlights all matters of interest to the LGBT community. The site fearlessly looks at powerful yet silent influences on identity and relationships, such as class, race and religion. HuffPost Gay Voices features everything from travel, style and entertainment to politics, personalities and health. Launch week bloggers include Christine Quinn, Margaret Cho and Bruce Vilanch. The Human Rights Campaign is Gay Voices’ inaugural sponsor.

HuffPost Weddings, the third section launching today, has comprehensive coverage of weddings and marriage from all angles, from untraditional wedding cakes and exotic dream honeymoons, to the more practical, including tips on navigating the world of wedding planners, contemporary wedding etiquette, and more. The site will spark discussions about everything from managing the family politics of inter-faith ceremonies and the nuances of gay weddings to the latest proposal video gone viral. And while HuffPost Weddings is meant as a one-stop-shop of advice with a supportive community for those planning their weddings, it also appeals to a wider audience interested in the culture and mores of modern weddings planning, weddings, and marriage. Bloggers on the site include: Heidi Klum; Kelly Meyer; celebrity wedding planners Mindy Weiss, Sharon Sacks, Preston Bailey, and Colin Cowie; designers Nanette Lepore, Angel Sanchez, Reem Acra; and more.

Rapid HuffPost Expansion; Record Audience and Engagement

The Huffington Post’s rapid expansion has only intensified following its merger with AOL in March. The site recorded its largest number of unique visitors per month last month — 37 million* — and also surpassed 1 billion page views for the first time. In addition, HuffPost’s engaged community continues to grow, posting a record 5.1 million comments in August.

With the four sites launching this week, HuffPost will have debuted 21 sections since the merger, all listed here:

• Huff/Post50
• HuffPost BlackVoices
• HuffPost Canada
• HuffPost Canada Living
• HuffPost Celebrity
• HuffPost Culture
• HuffPost Gay Voices
• HuffPost High School
• HuffPost LatinoVoices
• HuffPost Locals: San Francisco, D.C
• HuffPost Parents
• HuffPost San Francisco
• HuffPost Small Business
• HuffPost Travel
• HuffPost UK
• HuffPost UK Tech
• HuffPost UK Universities & Education
• HuffPost Women
• StyleList
• StyleList Home

(*comScore, Aug. 2011)

Staplers, Anyone? Even More Daily Deal Sites Emerge, This Time Targeting the Enterprise.

Tricia Duryee — Tue, 03 May 2011 11:30:35 +0000

The group-buying space has rapidly expanded from offering general items such as spa treatments and restaurant discounts to items aimed at more refined niches, like families and travel. There’s even the Chosen Deals for Jewish singles on JDate.

Just when you don’t think there could be any more, another emerging category is now targeting small-to-medium-size businesses by offering companies discounts on a range of products from a Lenovo laptop to office furniture or employee perks.

RapidBuyr and marketsharing are two companies competing in the space.

Yesterday, RapidBuyr launched a partnership with American City Business Journals, which will eventually be able to tap into its 10 million subscribers via 42 web sites and 64 publications. It’s live today in about seven of its markets, and was offering 42 percent off three sets of 1,000 business cards for $100.

Through the partnership, RapidBuyr will have access to the business journal’s regional sales staff to get access to local deals in addition to signing up national deals. The American City Business Journals represents just one partnership in addition to making its deals accessible directly from the its web site or through emails.

The company was founded by twin brothers, Tom and Darr Aley, who sold their last company, Generate, which created enterprise-focused social networking tools, to Dow Jones in 2008.

Marketsharing, too, is offering specials on small-to-medium business needs, but says it is differentiating itself by also offering discounts on employee perks, like hand massages, bowling parties and gym memberships.

The New York-based company has raised $1 million in seed funding from Kevin Wendle, the co-founder of CNET, and Daniel Klaus, who was behind Music Nation and Original Signal. Marketsharing’s founder John Amato previously was the president and co-founder of Show Media, one of the providers of taxi advertising in New York City.

Exclusive: Yahoo News Head Moves to Disney.com, Which Will Get Big Redo

Kara Swisher — Wed, 16 Mar 2011 22:27:57 +0000

Yesterday, BoomTown reported that Mark Walker, the head of the powerful Yahoo News site, was leaving the Internet giant for another company.

That company, sources said, will be Disney, where Walker will be leading a major overhaul of its flagship Disney.com site.

The property, which has largely been a promotional and aggregation play for Disney’s many family-oriented offerings–such as its popular Disney Channel cable television shows–still sees 20 million unique visitors monthly.

Walker will report to Jimmy Pitaro, the former Yahoo media head who is now co-president of Disney’s online division with John Pleasants. Walker worked directly for Pitaro at Yahoo.

Walker’s job, said sources, will be to find a new direction for Disney.com, including adding original programming to the site, as well as more personalization for its users.

It’s a big task for Walker, since Disney’s various Web efforts have a long and often rocky history, from its disastrous purchase of Infoseek in 1998 and efforts to create the Go.com portal to its savvy acquisition of several innovative kid-focused sites such as Club Penguin in recent years.

Still, like many traditional media giants, Disney has never achieved the kind of digital success its spectacular brand has promised. The hiring of Pitaro and Pleasants by CEO Bob Iger was a sign that the company was going to make some big changes again.

BoomTown will query Iger about all this at the ninth D: All Things Digital conference this summer, where he’ll be interviewed onstage.

Path Raises $8.65M From Kleiner, Index

Liz Gannes — Wed, 02 Feb 2011 00:15:21 +0000

Path, the personal media-sharing app, has raised $8.65 million from Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Index Ventures and Digital Garage Japan. The company said today it had facilitated the sharing of “over 2 million moments,” a.k.a. iPhone photos and short videos. Path is expanding ever so slightly to allow users to email pictures from within its iOS app, which makes sense since many people’s close friends and family don’t all have iPhones.

What Do Groupon Clones Look Like? A Mother Lode of Niches.

Tricia Duryee — Wed, 26 Jan 2011 20:39:50 +0000

With Groupon’s and LivingSocial’s success at securing hundreds of millions of dollars in financing and achieving hyper revenue growth, who wouldn’t want to copy their business models?

To be sure, there’s no shortage of clones.

In an industry that is only a year-or-so old, the trend of the past five minutes (or so it seems) is to target a small segment of Groupon’s and LivingSocial’s audience, with an emphasis on families and mothers, who tend to get the credit for being the decision makers of the household.

Today, San Francisco-based Plum District, a daily deal service devoted “to savvy moms and their families,” has raised $8.5 million in a first round of funding from Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. General Catalyst Partners also participated.

Beyond the generalists, like Groupon, LivingSocial and smaller companies like Tippr and BuyWithMe, there’s a deal site sprouting up devoted to a specific niche almost every day of the week.

Los Angeles-based FamilyFinds launched a daily deal site in December. The company’s co-founder and president, Brian Barnum, said: “We call the mom the Chief Purchasing Officer for the home….The family vertical is attractive. They tend to be very local.”

The company purchased a small competitor from Chicago to operate FamilyFinds Chicago. It’s already up to 18 employees and has raised $5.75 million in venture capital to help expand to 10 to 20 markets in the next year or so.

On the other side of the country is Wakefield, Mass.-based Eversave, which is part of an 11-year-old online marketing company. Over the past year, it has transitioned from helping big brands, like Kraft and Proctor & Gamble, create online relationships with customers through email and other means.

It’s now offering daily deals on its own, and targeting females ages 25 to 55. It serves 57 markets as part of its bigger online marketing business, and plans to have local deals in up to 15 markets by the end of the quarter. CEO Jere Doyle, said: “We turn down a lot of deals that are younger, or male-oriented. We are looking at the soccer mom. It’s not as urban; we are a surburban play.”

Doyle said there will likely be a shakeout in the broader deals market, with some companies getting purchased and others going out of business, but with room still for successful niches.

“There will be some consolidation. There always is in a booming market, and then you’ll see people focused on niches,” he said. “We are looking at the female audience, but there will be others focused on the inner city, or food or travel. It feels like if you can get a niche under your belt, there’s lots of room to be successful.”

Of course, even in these market niches, companies approach the business differently.

For example, because of Eversave’s marketing background, it’s focused on helping retailers with follow-up campaigns to turn deal seekers into returning customers.

Likewise, Plum District, which is in more than 20 metro areas in the U.S., is trying to differentiate itself by how it sources local deals.

Plum District has a “multi-level marketing sales approach,” meaning that the same moms who are receiving the deals can also act as its sales force (a la Mary Kay). Local moms source deals in their own cities and neighborhoods to find bargains on groceries, family outings, children’s classes, restaurants, spa treatments, fashion and travel. They also help drive awareness of the site by discussing it among their offline network of friends and affiliations.

The incentive for getting good deals is making money. For example, the top Plum District sales mom (which the company calls a “district consultant”) for Newport Beach, serving Orange County, is projected to make six figures if her earnings are annualized.

Plum District said the new funding will allow it to expand into Portland, Dallas and Raleigh-Durham in the coming year. It has also secured serious national interest from Best Buy’s Geek Squad, Drugstore.com and eBags.com, which will provide deals in the coming weeks.

Exclusive: Former Facebook Ad Head Mike Murphy Takes Senior Advisor Role at Zynga

Kara Swisher — Mon, 24 Jan 2011 03:02:01 +0000

Mike Murphy–Facebook’s first head of advertising sales, who left the social networking giant in October to take some personal time off–seems done with relaxing.

He is now taking a part-time, but significant, role at online gaming phenom Zynga to help formulate its advertising strategy.

In addition, Murphy is also close to formalizing a consulting relationship with Facebook.

Given there has been strong interest from more obvious Facebook competitors in retaining Murphy–including Google and Twitter–his move to Zynga is probably the best outcome for it.

Although the relationship has been tense at times, Zynga remains one of Facebook’s major strategic partners.

Facebook has reportedly been close to filling Murphy’s job, talking to several major online ad execs recently, but has not yet replaced him.

While it is not clear what Murphy will be doing for Facebook, where former Google exec David Fischer runs the ad business, Murphy’s role at Zynga will be quite deep and could expand over time even more.

It will include overseeing the development of Zynga’s advertising strategy, team growth and advertising products, and creating new relationships with top brands.

After being contacted by BoomTown about the new job, Murphy confirmed it and said in a statement:

“Social games are becoming a core way for marketers to engage with their customers. Zynga’s network of games have created an incredible opportunity for advertisers to create passionate relationships and emotional connections with their customers.”

Indeed, as it moves toward an inevitable IPO later this year, Zynga is upping its focus on building its advertising business, aiming at selling its fast-growing audience and the frequency and engagement they use its casual gaming products.

At Zynga, Murphy will lead and build the team, scaling its relationships with big-name partners.

The company has already dipped its toe in this arena, integrating some major brands into its games in recent campaigns.

Such online-offline customer efforts, although early, have had strong adoption, such as a recent one to plant branded blueberry crops–organic!–in its flagship FarmVille game for General Mills cereals.

There has also been a McDonald’s-branded farm in FarmVille. (McReally.)

Interestingly, in an inside-Silicon-Valley-baseball way, the move to Zynga will reunite Murphy, the former Yahoo exec who ran global advertising strategy for Facebook for five years, with Owen Van Natta.

Van Natta was once COO of Facebook and hired Murphy there. He is now EVP of Business at Zynga.

Along with Murphy, Van Natta has also brought in Dani Dudeck as communications head from Myspace, where he had a rocky tenure as CEO of the News Corp. unit.

And Katie Geminder, who was a design and user interface exec at both Facebook and Myspace, is also now at Zynga in a similar full-time role.

At the time he announced his departure from Facebook in the fall, Murphy said he had decided to step down in order to take some personal time off, noting that hundreds of nights on the road over the years had been enough.

“For the last five years of hyper-growth here, I have been focused on Facebook,” said Murphy. “Now, I felt it was time to shift that focus to my family.”

And now, apparently, to Zynga.

Don't Read This While Driving: T-Mobile Launches Safe Driving App

Ina Fried — Wed, 19 Jan 2011 16:10:59 +0000

If technology created the problem of texting and driving, it is only natural that we look to technology to solve the problem.

After all, we can’t just put our cellphones out of reach and just not answer the things for five freaking minutes. No, we can’t. Trust me. I’ve been to L.A.

In any case, there is a cottage industry developing for products that help those who want to stop texting and yammering on their phones, but need some help.

In the latest such move, T-Mobile plans to start offering a program for Android phones called DriveSmart Plus that allows subscribers who opt-in to have their phones automatically tell when the user is driving and put the phone into a driving mode that disables most texting and calling features. Calls can be set to go straight to voicemail, and a text message can be sent to people who are calling or texting to let them know that the recipient is driving.

Of course, all of this requires users to opt-in, so it will only help those who recognize that they have a problem and actually want to do something about it. And there are ways to override it, which is useful if there is an emergency or the cellphone user is a passenger in a moving car.

But, hey, it is a start. T-Mobile will offer DriveSmart Plus initially only for one phone–the LG Optimus T–but said it plans to expand the service soon. DriveSmart Basic, a free version of the app, is available for free on some T-Mobile phones, although that app requires users to tell the app when they are driving. DriveSmart Plus, the new premium program, will cost $4.99 per month and covers all lines on a subscriber’s account.

DriveSmart Plus is from a venture-backed start-up called Location Labs. T-Mobile is also launching another Location Labs-developed service, dubbed FamilyWhere, for tracking children or family members via their cellphones. It’s apparently useful for monitoring an elderly family member or keeping tabs on school-age kids (or perhaps tracking that cheating spouse, if they are foolish enough to opt-in to the service).

Disney Interactive Hires Brooke Chaffin to Oversee Content for Women and Families

Voices — Wed, 05 Jan 2011 21:07:31 +0000

Yahoo and media technology veteran Brooke Chaffin has signed on with Disney Interactive Media Group as Senior Vice President of Women and Family, the company announced today. Chaffin, formerly president of Auditude, will be based in North Hollywood, Calif., and will take on a newly created role overseeing women- and family-focused experiences for Disney Online. She’ll report to DIMG Co-President Jimmy Pitaro.

Amazon's WikiLeaks Author Explains Why He Yanked His Book–And Why He's Selling It Again

Peter Kafka — Fri, 10 Dec 2010 20:45:16 +0000

Add another chapter to the odd story of the WikiLeaks e-book that Amazon sold, stopped selling and is now selling again: The author tells me he asked Amazon’s U.K. site to remove the book after he received anonymous threats against him and his family.

But he says he has now reconsidered and wants the book sold, after all–even if it angers some WikiLeaks supporters.

To recap: Amazon received a storm of criticism yesterday for selling this oddly named e-book “WikiLeaks documents expose US foreign policy conspiracies. All cables with tags from 1 5000,” even though Amazon has refused to host WikiLeaks documents themselves.

Amazon’s common-sense answer to critics was that the book is commentary and analysis about the WikiLeaks data and that it intended to keep selling the title.

Later on Thursday, the book disappeared from Amazon’s shelves, and Amazon said it had been “removed by author.” But now it’s back once again.

What happened? I asked author Heinz Duthel to explain. We’ve corresponded via email, and while there’s a bit of a language gap (he’s a native German speaker), I think I understand the gist of the story: Duthel’s instinct after receiving threats was to yank the book, but now that he’s had time to think it through, he wants to sell it after all.

Below, an edited version of my correspondence with Duthel. I’m leaving his responses in their original form rather than risking making an inaccurate guess while cleaning them up:

December 9
Peter Kafka: I see now that the book is no longer available at Amazon’s store. The listing there says it has been “removed by author.” Can you please explain why you wrote the book, why you published it and why you decided to remove it?

December 10
Heinz Duthel: Yesterday I had a shocking day (at age 61) with my III. book about Wikileaks. I did remove the book after I received about 60 emails (anonymous) with insults like ‘after finish with paypal, mastercard, amazon’ we will remove you and all your books from the web’, ‘we know who are you and we will take care about you singing daughter (she is 15 and started to make some music since 2 years) and so on. Amazon.com did send me one email (Stephanie Derouin of Amazon’s Kindle Self-Publishing (DTP) Executive Customer Relations. Can you please confirm that this is your intent? You may email me at [xxx]@amazon.com. ) so I replied that I have removed the book because I don’t want that amazon.com is hacked only because of my wikileak book.

Since then one of my domains, heinzduthel.com has to be removed from my hosting company because of high cpu usage. This from 1:30 till 5:50 European Time. Now the domain is back again (amazon shop script) but I had to clean the cache for 2 hours on the domains, because it look like I had a few hundred thousand ‘visitors’.

Kafka: Your book now appears to be available on Amazon again. If that’s true, why did you decide to do so given the threats, etc.?

Duthel: I am surprised it is online again because I left this up to amazon.com in my email as you have seen. I think there is no reason why it should not be online, because I think the comments bellow the book atamazon.com are not justified at all.

…honestly this book (Wikileaks IV) is nothing else then just about Assange, Wikileaks and why, what, question marks, comments etc.

This book is in fact something for readers interested to know what is going on or what is Weakileaks and have no time to search the whole internet, sources, media, press etc.

Kafka: I am surprised to read that you’re surprised it’s now available. Did you specifically tell Amazon to remove your book? And are you okay with the fact that it’s available once again?

Duthel: Peter, to question I:

Here is the email after I have removed the book and Amazon did ask me if this has been my intent.

Dear Miss Stephanie

No it has not been my intent, I have just been informed after reading the news in Google.com that maybeamazon.com would have or get problems from all this hackers or world regulators, like Mastercard, Visa or Paypal. So this is not my attention.

I think this book like any other has the right to be online and no one can or has the right to commit extrajudicial proceedings against books or publication.

But you can see all this supporters of Wikileaks and Julian Assange black mail each and every one who is against their self proclaimed freedom of press.

After talking with my family Lawyer this evening in France he suggested to place back the book or books as it is up to Amazon to decide what is wrong or good and not some self appointed world regulators outside there…

To question II.

Yes I am OK if the book is online and available because it has been the reason why I wrote the book, but I left this up to amazon.com because I don’t want to be responsible if because of this book amazon.comget problems, hackers or what ever.

FamilyFinds: Discount Deals Site Aimed at Families Launches With $5.75 Million Funding

Kara Swisher — Wed, 01 Dec 2010 12:30:34 +0000

Even as Groupon is poised to sell itself to Google for badillions of dollars, the attack of the social buying clones continues.

Today, it is the launch of FamilyFinds, a Santa Monica, Calif., start-up aimed at offering daily deals to families, with $5.75 million in funding to help it get going.

“Think relevance, plus an explosive market plus a great team,” said FamilyFinds CEO Matt Coffin, in an interview yesterday about the new site, whose first “holi-deal” today is “$10 Only-in-LA Santa Photos.”

Others to come include kid-focused live shows, skate rentals and holiday cruises that Coffin said are “hyper-local and demographically targeted.”

Coffin said, as a longtime entrepreneur, he was intrigued with the booming social e-commerce space. But, as a parent, he was less impressed, because of little in the way of personalization.

“I was somewhat disenchanted by the same offers that did not target me accurately,” he said.

(So is BoomTown, who is going to scream if I get another spa treatment or stripper pole lesson offer this week. Not that there’s anything wrong with that.)

Thus, Coffin said FamilyFinds drills down on one audience–those who need to entertain and serve the little ones.

The former founder of LowerMyBills co-founded FamilyFinds with, among others, a blast from the Web 1.0 past: Former Disney Internet Group head Jake Winebaum.

At launch, FamilyFinds said it will focus on numerous communities across Los Angeles, although a national rollout is coming in 2011.

Split Rock Partners provided the Series A funding.

Here’s the official FamilyFinds press release:

FAMILYFINDS.COM ENTERS $1B LOCAL SOCIAL ECOMMERCE SPACE

Backed by $5.75 Million Investment, Leading Internet Veterans
Launch Vertical Family Daily Deal Site

(Santa Monica, CA) December 1, 2010–FamilyFinds, an online daily promotions site exclusively focused on services and experiences for families, officially launched today. This community-suggested and expert-curated destination advances the online daily deal space by combining a family focus with hyper-local geo targeting. The company also announced that it recently closed on a $5.75M Series A funding round backed by Split Rock Partners, strongly positioning them to be involved in of one of the fastest growing industries of all time.

FamilyFinds is led by Internet industry veterans who founded and ran several successful consumer businesses valued at over $1 billion, including the founder of FamilyFun magazine, who also ran the Disney Internet Group, and the founder of LowerMyBills. The team, all of them now parents, have created an online destination that will not only offer member families great deals on new and favorite neighborhood merchants, but will also provide information and resources to help them discover the best family activities in their own and nearby communities.

According to a recent study of moms*, over 70% use the Internet to find deals and discounts (the most popular activity) and 62% go online for entertainment and family activities. FamilyFinds addresses this trend by directly creating a single destination for moms and dads seeking deals and family activity ideas.

“Families, local and national brands, and member-based deals is a great combination for a big vertically focused business, and one that we believe is untapped,” said Matt Coffin, chief executive officer, FamilyFinds.com. “As parents and consumers ourselves, we know the key to unlocking this market is relevance, which means being local, curating deals and fun discoveries that create family memories, and delivering great value-based pricing.”

Through consumer testing and an early beta, FamilyFinds learned that consumer demand, especially for busy families, while value influenced, is also heavily influenced by proximity to the merchant. The company will follow a hyper-local model, offering great finds not just within specific cities around the United States, but within specific neighborhoods. For launch, prior to the nationwide roll-out in 2011, FamilyFinds will serve numerous communities across Los Angeles, including neighborhoods in the Valley, Pasadena, South Bay, City Central, and the Westside.

“We know that moms and families are social and use the Internet not just to find great opportunities for themselves, but also to share and coordinate these opportunities and their experiences with other families, friends and neighbors,: said Brian Barnum, president. “FamilyFinds is building a social layer over everything we do to infuse our core value proposition with insight and access to the larger community of families in our customers’ extended networks.”

FamilyFinds is the collaborative effort of Internet industry veterans and parents, including:

• CEO Matt Coffin, founder of LowerMyBills.com (sold to Experian) and active Internet investor including Demand Media, Buscape (sold), Rubicon Project, Mahalo, Machinima and social eCommerce companies Hautelook, ShoeDazzle and ecoMom.

• Jake Winebaum, who was co-founder of eCompanies, which launched Business.com, Jamdat and Boingo, and founder of FamilyFun magazine and led Disney’s entry to the Internet as Chairman of the Disney Internet Group.

• Doug Hirsch, who was VP of Product at Facebook, GM Yahoo Entertainment and Founder of DailyStrength.org.

• President Brian Barnum who was the President of RHD Interactive (a division of R.H. Donnelly, now Dex One Corp.) and both COO and CFO of Business.com and CFO of Rent.com (sold to eBay).

• Leading content and merchandising is Elizabeth Hurchalla, previous editor of BlackboardEats and co-founding producer of Yahoo! Food.

• Leading editorial is Julie Taylor, previous editor-in-chief at Momlogic.

• Leading sales is Terry McGovern, previous Director of Interactive Sales at Los Angeles Times and sales at AT&T local

Facebook's Longtime Ad Sales Head Mike Murphy to Depart Company

Kara Swisher — Tue, 26 Oct 2010 14:51:23 +0000

Mike Murphy, Facebook’s VP of Global Sales, is leaving the company.

Facebook said the well-known advertising exec decided to step down in order to take some personal time off, which Murphy reiterated was the case in an interview with BoomTown, noting that hundreds of nights on the road over the years have been enough.

“For the last five years of hyper-growth here, I have been focused on Facebook,” said Murphy. “Now, I felt it was time to shift that focus to my family.”

Murphy will stay on at the Silicon Valley social networking powerhouse until December, helping with the transition. His staff was told this morning in an email from him.

Both he and his boss David Fischer, VP of Advertising and Global Operations, have discounted any notion of tension between them, since Fischer came on board at Facebook in March.

Murphy said he had been planning his departure for a while, and wanted to get through the most recent quarter to finally pull the trigger.

“It is something I have been thinking about for quite some time and I discussed it with David early on,” said Murphy, who noted Facebook execs tried to come up with other options at the company for him. “I wanted [my departure] to come at a time when I knew the team was in good hands.”

Fischer said that there are no precise plans to replace Murphy yet, but that Facebook would “evaluate a lot of options.”

Interestingly, while he said he had no plans for now, Murphy is perhaps the dream candidate for Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz to run its ad sales business, which has been drifting of late due to a series of exec departures.

In fact, Murphy is an ex-Yahoo exec, having come to Facebook in 2006 directly from a stint as VP of Media Sales for the Western region at the Internet giant.

At Facebook, Murphy has led media strategy, advertising sales and account management. He came to the company five years ago, when it was not the social networking powerhouse it is today.

He is one of a handful of experienced online ad sales leaders in the business, and the affable exec is very well-liked in the industry.

Murphy also worked at Ziff-Davis Publishing and CMP Media.

Reflecting on all the changes that have gone on in online advertising, especially with the advent of social media, Murphy noted how quickly the landscape has changed.

“It’s been an amazing progression for marketers from how you launch a campaign to having a presence on Facebook to how you make an emotional connection with your customer,” said Murphy. “The momentum has been huge.”

That’s why Murphy said he expects to eventually return to the fray, once he has spent some quality time at home and has a “clear head.”

For a look back, here is a video interview I did with Murphy in 2007, back in the days when Owen Van Natta, also in the video, was COO at the Palo Alto, Calif.-based Facebook:

[ See post to watch video ]

Exclusive: Yahoo's David Ko to Head Mobile at Online Gaming Powerhouse Zynga

Kara Swisher — Mon, 04 Oct 2010 16:11:57 +0000

David Ko (pictured here), who just announced he was leaving Yahoo as head of its powerful U.S. Audience unit, is taking a job heading mobile efforts at hot social gaming start-up Zynga, according to sources.

The move comes only a day after Jimmy Pitaro, who also departed his job as SVP of Media at the Internet giant last week (working under Ko, in fact), landed at Disney (DIS) as the new co-president of its Internet division.

For Zynga–the fast-growing San Francisco-based maker of such online hits as Farmville and Mafia Wars that got its start on Facebook–mobile is becoming a critical new platform for growth, as consumers use a variety of increasingly functional mobile devices, such as smartphones and tablet computers.

It’s also the fastest growing area internationally, where mobile phones are more widespread and where Zynga is seeking its next spurt of growth.

Sources said Zynga had been pursuing Ko for months.

Before heading the Audience unit at Yahoo (YHOO), Ko ran its mobile operations, which included heading product development, making distribution deals and more.

Under Ko, Yahoo’s mobile efforts first centered on building apps for smartphones, such as the Apple (AAPL) iPhone, but shifted to encompass more of its copious content assets.

Ko, who worked in a variety of areas at Yahoo, took over as SVP of Yahoo Mobile in 2009 after Marco Boerries left as EVP of the Connected Device Division, which now does not exist under that name.

Ko had also run Yahoo’s mobile business in the Asia-Pacific region.

According to one of Ko’s old Yahoo bios, he previously worked at Salomon Smith Barney as a senior associate and analyst. He is a graduate of New York University’s Stern School of Business.

Ko, who lives in San Francisco with his family, the bio notes, inexplicably “enjoys reading tech blogs.”

In his new job, as SVP of Mobile at Zynga, he will report directly to CEO Mark Pincus, sources said.

Forty Percent of AT&T's iPhone Subscribers Could Flee to Verizon

John Paczkowski — Tue, 25 May 2010 14:37:03 +0000

What will AT&T’s post-paid subscriber numbers look like if the company loses its iPhone-exclusivity deal with Apple and if Verizon begins selling the device, as some believe it soon might?

The numbers will look about six million subscribers lighter than today, according to Davenport & Company analyst Drake Johnstone, who believes AT&T (T) will take a nasty hit if/when Verizon (VZ) receives Apple’s (AAPL) blessing to sell the iPhone.

“Over the past several years, AT&T indicated that 40 percent of its new iPhone customers came from other carriers,” Johnstone theorized in a note to clients this week. “We estimate that AT&T has 15 million iPhone customers (as of Q-1 10) and believe that AT&T could lose as many as 6 million, or 40 percent, of its iPhone customers when Verizon begins selling the iPhone in 2011.”

As a consequence, the analyst noted that “We are reducing AT&T’s 2011 wireless subscriber additions from 6 million to 2 million (most of these new additions may be lower value connected devices such as eReaders instead of higher value long-term wireless customers), since we believe that Verizon could obtain Apple’s approval to sell and provide wireless service for the iPhone as early as mid-2011.”

A 40 percent drop in iPhone subscribers. Six million AT&T customers gone with the advent of a Verizon iPhone. That’s an ugly scenario for AT&T, for which the device has been a major driver of wireless revenue growth.

But it’s not necessarily an inevitable one. As I noted here just yesterday, subscriber losses triggered by the end of AT&T’s iPhone-exclusivity deal will be tempered by two very important factors:

The early termination fee AT&T charges customers who break their contracts.
Family-talk and business-discount plans that make switching to a new carrier a difficult proposition. About 80 percent of AT&T’s customers are on such plans.

Beyond this, there’s the simple fact that subscriber churn rates at carriers that have lost iPhone exclusivity hasn’t been all that bad. As Matthew Key, CEO of Telefónica Europe said during a February earnings call, “ever since Vodafone has started selling the iPhone in January, we see absolutely no evidence of people leaving us, churning on the iPhone going back to Orange or Vodafone, so [we are] very comfortable with our iPhone volumes. We continue to out-trade the market and no sign of churn whatsoever.”

Confirmed: Yahoo CTO and Chief Product Officer Balogh to Leave Company

Kara Swisher — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 22:52:49 +0000

As BoomTown reported earlier today, Yahoo is searching for a new CTO and chief product officer. Its current exec in charge, Ari Balogh (pictured here), confirmed in an interview this afternoon that he is leaving the company.

“It’s probably bad timing, since we are in the midst of recharging Yahoo,” said Balogh. “But this had to do with personal priorities.”

By that, he was referring to personal issues in Greece, where Balogh was partially raised, related to an uncle to whom he is close. Balogh will be moving his family there this summer.

In a further complication, they cannot travel there by plane, because his daughter cannot fly due to issues around her hearing impairment.

The leading candidate for Balogh’s job at Yahoo (YHOO), said several sources, is former Microsoft (MSFT) exec Blake Irving.

Balogh would not comment on that, but noted Yahoo was looking at several candidates.

Balogh’s parting is one of many among top Yahoo execs recently, under the leadership of CEO Carol Bartz. Advertising sales head Joanne Bradford departed the company to join Demand Media, while longtime tech exec Ash Patel said he would not return from a sabbatical he took last year.

Here’s Yahoo’s official statement, for the record:

Ari Balogh, EVP, Products and CTO, has decided to leave Yahoo! for personal reasons. Ari plans to remain with the company until June 3 and will be working with the team to enable a smooth transition. We expect to name his replacement in the coming weeks. We thank him for his many contributions and wish him well.

And here is a statement from Balogh:

“While Yahoo! has become a family to me in many ways over the last two years, I have a situation with my own family that is difficult and has driven me to make some changes in my life. This job was my dream job, which makes this decision very hard. I have been working with Carol on a succession plan that we will roll out over the coming weeks. Yahoo! has many opportunities to touch so many people’s lives and the company is well positioned to take advantage of every one of them. I am confident that the incredible people at Yahoo! will deliver against our vision to be the center of people’s online lives.”

Here is a video interview I did with Balogh last July:

[ See post to watch video ]

AOL Product Guru (and Google Vet) Shashi Seth Bolts for Yahoo After Just Three Months

Peter Kafka — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 20:35:53 +0000

That was quick: Shashi Seth, the “product guy” and former Google (GOOG) executive hired by AOL (AOL) just three months ago, is leaving the company and headed to Yahoo. AOL, of course, has been a net importer of Google veterans since bringing sales boss Tim Armstrong aboard to run the company last spring.

No word yet on what Seth will be doing at Yahoo (YHOO). UPDATE: Seth’s new position will be senior vice president, search products team, Yahoo announced on a blog post.

In the letter announcing his departure, below, he cites the new job’s strain on his family–it’s worth noting that his description of the situation is a bit more impassioned than the generic “leaving to spend time with his family” explanation, though not really more detailed.

Here’s what Jeff Levick, president of global advertising and strategy at AOL, said about Seth in September:

“Shashi is unmatched in the industry as an innovator with an outstanding track record of developing new and better ways to serve advertisers on the Web. As we move forward on our strategy of becoming the world’s largest provider of display advertising, Shashi will play a critical role in creating the best products in the business for our advertising partners.”

And here’s what Levick had to say about him today, followed by Shashi’s letter to his former colleagues:

From: Levick, Jeff

Sent: Wednesday, January 13, 2010 3:12 PM

To: AOL_Advertising

Subject: AOL Advertising Organization Changes

AOL Advertising–Along with the other changes going on across the company today, I wanted to let you know Shashi Seth will also be leaving AOL effective today. While Shashi was only with us for 90 days, we appreciate the early steps he took to help us redefine AOL’s advertising product roadmap.? ?I’ve attached Shashi’s note below. As you’ll see he’s taken another position in the Valley–at Yahoo–which will enable him to remain closer to his family.

In the interim, Jamie Fellows will be leading our Global Advertising Products organization. I’ll look forward to seeing everyone at our All Hands next Tuesday and as always if you have questions, please let me know.

Best, ?Jeff

Dear Team:

It is with a heavy heart that I must tell you that I am resigning from my role at AOL. Very recent developments in my personal life have made it impossible for me to maintain an executive role that requires extensive travel.

Over the last 3 months my relationship with my wife has been impacted severely, and the last 2 months have been very difficult for me as I saw my family unravel in front of my eyes. My family has always come first, and decided that we needed to give it everything we have to put this family back together. Spending more time together will be an important ingredient for success. The holidays gave us an opportunity to start that process, discuss plans for the future and laid out a plan that allows us to reset and rebuild our lives.

Last week I was approached by a Bay Area company about an interesting role, discussions progressed very quickly, and I’ve accepted their offer to join. This new role will enable me to remain local, and gives me lots of flexibility in where I work from (we might move to India for some time) and be available for my family, yet gives me something interesting and challenging to work on.

This is very hard for me, as I have enjoyed working with all of you, and truly believe in our products, vision and AOL as a company. The new organization, the new culture, the new focus, but above all having leaders like Tim and Jeff, all point to success in short order.

I apologize for all the inconvenience and the disruption caused by my action, and I hope you will understand. I will root for you from the sidelines, and celebrate AOL’s success. Someday, we may have the chance to work together again.??Jan 22nd will be my last day at work. Jeff and I have put together a transition plan that will allow us to continue business as usual. You will see emails and meeting invites that will start the process.??I will truly miss working with each and everyone of you.

Good Luck!

Shashi