At last year’s mesh, we had the pleasure of sitting down with Om Malik in a keynote conversation about The Future of Media. At the time, Om was still with Business 2.0, but while we got not one inkling of it from him at mesh, he was on the verge of announcing the launch of GigaOm as a full-time gig. It’s been a venture that to all outward appearances has been very successful, and was a launch that no doubt gave gumption to lots of Web 2.0 entrepreneurs who followed, like our co-meshie Mark Evans, who made a similar jump by moving from the National Post to become VP of Operations of b5media (and who interviewed Om for that keynote last year).
This year, we’ve been luckier still with our timing. Mike Arrington, who is undeniably the poster-child for Web 2.0’s assault on the battlements of mainstream media, is our media keynote conversation at mesh ‘07 and has just announced that TechCrunch is hiring Heather Harde, Fox Interactive Media’s SVP of M&A, to be CEO of his growing empire (“Heather’s job will be to leverage the opportunities that we have sometimes let slip by, and to manage our organic and acquisition growth going forward.†“Acquisition growth†…. hmmm, our interest is piqued). Mike will focus more on the editorial side, he says.
(And in a nice bit of synchronicity for us here at mesh, Om broke the story.)
Like our friend Tony Hung, we think this makes a lot of sense. Mike’s joint is often referred to as a technology and business blog, but it’s been obvious for a long time that the brand can do much, much more. We are no doubt in for a treat now as he and Heather set about to do just that. And we’ll have even more to talk about with Mike at mesh ’07.
Congratulations, Mike.
