-
scandal
Did Apple's Ex-CFO Rat Out Steve Jobs?
Forbes has a cover story on how Steve Jobs got himself in hot water with the SEC over stock options. The magazine is part-owned by former Apple CFO Fred Anderson. Do the math. More » -
twitterati
The Twitterati Attract Another Stalker
Looks like we have some competition for tracking the media elite's bleat-replete tweets! Our competitive edge: We bring you the very worst of the Twitterati. Today's targets: More » -
print is dead
Power-Hungry Censor Gutting Forbes?
Multiple sources tell us Forbes, the troubled, Bono-backed right-wing business magazine, is set to lay of 50 or 60 employees tomorrow. And Carl Lavin, a power-hungry editor, is behind the bloodbath. More » -
internal memos
Forbes Dotcommies Kick Another Print Guy Out
The fighting following the merger of Forbes and Forbes.com continues. The latest casualty is print veteran Stewart Pinkerton, who's "retiring," but a tipster says he was "pushed out in a coup after knocking heads with Carl Lavin, his power-mad counterpart from Forbes.com." More » -
death of print
Forbes.com, Magazine United at Last by Layoffs
We hear Forbes, the fussily conservative business magazine, is laying off Web and print staff today, and merging the surviving editors and writers into a single newsroom. It only took them a decade. More » -
death of print
Forbes memo confirms print, Web staff merging
Ending a longstanding internal split that dates back to the days of the first dotcom boom, Forbes Media is merging the staff which puts out the conservative-leaning business magazine and its online component, which run separately and with a ludicrous amount of mutual suspicion and jealousy. (Valleywag had gotten wind of these plans last month.) An internal memo sent by CEO Steve Forbes to staff says that print and online sales and marketing will be immediately integrated, reporting up to an "office of the chairman" which includes Forbes.com publisher Jim Spanfeller, whom rumors had previously pegged as the head of the combined operation. Integration of the Web and print editorial staff won't happen until early 2009. Translation: No one in the newsroom will know what's happening to their job until next year. Here's the memo: More » -
blogging the auto bloggers
ForbesAutos.com Staff Laid Off, I Start Saying Nicer Things To Ray Wert, Nick Denton
Rumors have flown all week about Forbes planning to axe their Forbes Autos division. Those rumors look to be confirmed by Alley Insider, though a spokesperson refused to confirm or deny those rumors to us. Though the Forbes auto site has never been a major player in the automotive news business, it illustrates a reality: less automaker revenue means less ad revenue means less automotive outlets. This is especially true for an operation like Forbes.com, which sought to squeeze out more luxo-advertising bucks by creating their own custom content channels and putting themselves in a bad position come a down cycle. Oh, yeah, and it also serves as a reminder of how the Financiapocalypse could affect me, personally. Therefore, I've decided to say some nice things about my employers before I end up getting canned or made to feed the hamsters in our server farm for a salary of wooden nickels and all the sawdust I can eat. [Jalopnik] -
politics
Forbes, Cox pay blogs to run anti-gay-marriage ads
Forbes.com, the online arm of the right-wing business magazine, is offering to pay blogs to run a political ad supporting a ban on gay marriage. The price: $2.85 per thousand pageviews. The ad advocates the passage of Proposition 8, a California ballot initiative. The blogs in question are part of Forbes's Business and Financial Blog Network, an online-ad network which places ads sold by Forbes salespeople on independent sites. The network itself is run by Adify, an ad-technology company now owned by Cox, the media-and-cable-TV conglomerate. The ad won't run automatically, according to an email from Sharon Gitelle, who's listed on Forbes.com as a "membership" contact; bloggers must specifically choose it. Politics aside, a $2.85 CPM, or cost per thousand pageviews, is nothing to sneeze at in these tough economic times. Reached on the phone, Gitelle said, "I'm not talking to Valleywag." So we know this much: She's no dummy! Here's the email she sent: More » -
-
leaks
Two promoted at Forbes
Something is stirring at Forbes Media, the publisher of Forbes magazine and Forbes.com, two similarly named but otherwise uncooperative publications. Bill Baldwin, the paper tiger who runs print editorial, has issued a memo to his staff announcing two promotions. The Dickensianly named Stewart Pinkerton "will continue to spend a lot of his time overseeing the contributions of print writers to Forbes.com and vice versa." The other guy, Tom Post, will remain another faceless middle-management drone, but we're inclined to like the guy, since he went to the University of Chicago. More » -
death of print
Forbes.com, Forbes careerists gird for battle
David Churbuck, the founder of Forbes.com (and sweaty prep-school wrestling partner of Fake Steve Jobs blogger turned boring Newsweek columnist Dan Lyons), has weighed in on the chaos enveloping his former employer, the investor-friendly, snarkier-than-thou business magazine. Churbuck, like many Forbes alumni, seems to know more of what's going on than its current employees. The publication, now backed by Silicon Valley investment house Elevation Partners, is colliding together its Web and print editorial teams, and the result could be nuclear, as editors and writers scramble for position in the new order. Churbuck observes that the split between print and online had its roots in a plan to spin off Forbes.com in an IPO during the go-go late '90s; even after plans for an IPO were scrapped, the division persisted. Now, Elevation is pushing to consolidate the staffs, Churbuck says. Separately, a tipster reports several personnel moves happening at Forbes. Are they coincidence, or a sign of people positioning their own careers for the coming upheaval? Hard to say. More » -
death of print
Forbes writers clueless on magazine's fate
A high-profile New York magazine company handing control of its flagship print property to a Web executive would be a great story about the transformation of media. Normally, writers at Forbes would be all over it — if it weren't happening to them. Yesterday's rumor about Forbes Media merging the magazine and Forbes.com — two distinct operations, housed in separate offices, whose managers don't get along — and tapping Forbes.com chief Jim Spanfeller to run the combination has provoked a collective wave of head-scratching from current and former Forbesians. Could it happen? One writer tells us that Forbes management has denied the rumor so unconvincingly that workers there are all concluding it must be true. "I work at Forbes. I'll be the last to know," says one. He disputes the idea that Forbes and its website don't work well together, giving several examples of Web and print writers crossing the line — but the fact that those are notable, rather than routine, just highlights Forbes's lack of cooperation. His note: More » -
death of print
Forbes.com exacts revenge of nerds on Forbes
Most magazines keep their Web and print staffs apart, a legacy of petty rivalries, bureaucratic turf wars, and a fear of change. But Forbes Media has elevated balkanization into an art form. The two sides of the company barely speak to each other. The Forbes family tolerated this, but Elevation Partners, the Silicon Valley private-equity fund which counts Bono as a partner and now owns 40 percent of Forbes is not so patient. A tipster tells us that a "big shakeup" is coming, with the editorial staffs of both magazine and website getting "smashed together." More » -
online advertising
Publishers try to pop ad-network bubble
Seven years ago there were less than 50 online ad networks. Today there are more than 300. But that number could shrink just as quickly, reports Lucia Moses in MediaWeek. At least, that's what her executive sources at publishers Rodale, Martha Stewart and Forbes hope. Rodale's MaryAnn Bekkedahl says that when her company experimented with an ad network, it served ads in the wrong language, broke exclusive arrangements with sponsors, and tried to put a fast-food ad in on a fitness site. Forbes.com CEO Jim Spanfeller tells Moses Forbes has the solution: It offers advertising clients its own third-party sites handpicked by the company for editorial compatibility. Martha Stewart Livig Omnimedia does the same thing with its Martha’s Circle, co-CEO Wenda Harris Millard says, because “magazines are wonderful brands and the networks are not going to protect [them]." But we know what's really going on here. More » -
geek love
Marrying into billions still acceptable so long as you're a smart girl
Forbes lays on the Cosmo when it comes to finding wives for the rich: "Today, there are just 110 eligible 10-figure bachelors, including divorced men, in the world. So what does it take to marry one? For starters, looks are great—but brains are even better." Take Melanie Craft, the romance-novelist wife of Oracle CEO Larry Ellison. A wife with her own career can stay busy and well-off. The more successful she is on her own, the more time her guy has to hire girls for rides in his Love Copter. And the less money he'll have to hand over in a future settlement. Everybody wins! (Photo by David Livingston/Getty Images) -
blogging for dollars
Dan Lyons quits Fake Steve Jobs before the real Steve Jobs drops dead on him
In humor, timing is everything. And death just ain't that funny. That's why Dan Lyons is quitting the Secret Diary of Steve Jobs blog. True, he's planning to turn his Fake Steve Jobs schtick into a second book. And his new job as Newsweek's gadget columnist may require more decorous relations with Apple — note that Newsweek, usually the object of favored treatment by Apple PR, didn't get an early iPhone 3G to review. But the real reason why Lyons is dropping Fake Steve? Because the state of the real Apple CEO's health had Lyons scared. More » -
fake steve jobs
Dan Lyons going to Newsweek makes encounter with Real Steve Jobs almost inevitable
Newsweek, along with Time, the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times, is on the short list of publications that Apple CEO Steve Jobs will actually deign to meet and speak with. Dan Lyons, aka Fake Steve Jobs, is taking over as the lead tech reporter at Newsweek. That leads us to a tantalizing conclusion: It can't be long before Fake Steve Jobs and Real Steve Jobs meet in person. Like the attempt at discovering the Higgs boson at the Large Hadron Collider, the unintended consequences could involve the earth folding in on itself. We wait with bated breath. -
dan lyons
Fake Steve Jobs leaves old-media job for old-media job
He invented The Secret Diary of Steve Jobs. Have you friggin' heard of it? Dan Lyons, the Apple CEO impersonator whose identity so bedeviled us until he was outed last year, is leaving Forbes for Newsweek, taking the place of Steven Levy as Newsweek's house technophile. So much for a brave leap into the unknown world of the Web. Lyons had made no secret of his discontent at Forbes, where the website is run separately from the print magazine and the two sides hate each other; high-level strongarming was required to get Forbes.com to link to Lyons's blog, which he will now take with him to Newsweek. (Photo by Mark Coggins) -
Supply-Chain Management
Mystery Apple boxes overflow at Quanta shipping facility
The shipments of whatever Apple intends to unleash on the world June 9 continue unabated. Electronic device manufacturer Quanta, which builds products such as the Apple iMac, has had pallet after pallet of shipments arriving from Taiwan, only to be shuttled onto FedEx and other ground carrier trucks for destinations unknown — at the rate of three or more every twenty minutes. Forbes reporter Brian Caulfield was on the scene yesterday, and says that stacks and stacks of boxes were overflowing into the parking lot. More » -
death of print
Forbes reporter leaves to join VC firm
In the newsrooms of Silicon Valley, they call it "going native." In New York, media is a semirespectable profession, and the skyscraper snobs of the world's leading infotainment conglomerates assume that those who drop out for lesser arts like PR just couldn't cut it. Not so here. Erika Brown, who covered venture capital for Forbes, is leaving the magazine to join Matrix Partners as the VC firm's director of marketing and business development. (Biz dev? I can't picture Brown, a snappy dresser, in blue shirts and pleated khakis.) Did Brown parlay her contacts from reporting into a new job? It's hard to imagine she didn't. And one can hardly blame her. The death of magazines may or may not be imminent. But serving time in a distant bureau of a magazine which is mostly diffident about the Valley is a career killer. Brown's note to friends: More » -
great moments in journalism
Forbes grabs firm hold of Steve Jobs's "magic wand"
Forbes has exactly two tones: Sarcastically skeptical, if editors thinks its readers don't own a stock, and breathlessly promotional, if they think they do. "The iPhone: Apple's Magic Wand" is an example of the latter. Its writers hail the "touch-sensitive wonder phone" and say "the broad outlines of Steve Jobs' grand strategy for wireless domination are coming into focus." At least when slavering gadget blogs call it the "Jesusphone," there's a hint that they might be tongue in cheek. The Forbes scribes give no such hint. More » -
housekeeping
The modern-day resignation letter
Mary Jane Irwin, my first hire at Valleywag, has joined Forbes.com as a staff troublemaker and insult comic. Congrats, MJ! And I'm sorry, Fake Steve. -
trendsquatting
Okay, Which Second Life Employee Is Sleeping With The Entire NYT Tech Section?
Jesus, it feels like every week the New York Times finds a new "trend" involving Second Life, the virtual world that lets people interact with avatars to blah blah blah ugh. In the 65th Times story about SL, it's virtual job interviews, which even the Times knows are nearly non-existent, admitting that Second Life owner Linden Labs "doesn't keep statistics" but "says the number has grown exponentially" in the world's five-year history. Which could mean, since we're given no parameters, that there are all of thirty-two employers using a technology half as useful as AIM and a webcam. Also, the Wall Street Journal did this story, but better, last June. Bad enough, but here's what makes the Times's coverage of Second Life such an epic failure. More » -
venture capital
Why East Coast VCs lack the Midas touch
Forbes has released its Midas List of top venture capitalists. New York-based investors make up 2 percent of the list, and that has the writers at Silicon Alley Insider confused. But since it's the same confusion that led Henry Blodget, the disgraced tech-stock analyst, to found the tech blog in the first place, one can hardly blame them. More » -
macworld 2008
Old Media runs circles around Web 2.0 at Macworld
I took this picture of Valleywag cub reporter Jordan Golson because I think the kid has potential. But Jordan, watch and learn: See the guy typing away behind you? Forbes senior editor Dan Lyons, aka Fake Steve Jobs. And the man with the early migraine? PC World editor in chief Harry McCracken. Look at them: Work, work, work. With the dual exception of Engadget and Gizmodo, the Web 2.0 kids fell way behind the old guard in reporting this morning. Oh, and whoever decided Valleywag would report the whole thing via Twitter? You win the prize. Go back and read Uncov until you know the difference between "scale" and "fail." -
brian caulfield
The quiet killer
Forbes.com's Brian Caulfield has scored the magazine's latest cover story, a profile of graphics chipmaker Nvidia. Quite a coup, especially for a writer whose personal manner is so unassuming. But we wonder if some repressed aspects of his personality are starting to come out in recent headlines. -
self-referential
This just in from Forbes: Apparently Gawker Media, the publisher of Valleywag, Gawker, Gizmodo, and other fine blogs, has changed its name to "Denton Media." Except not. But you know what I really find annoying? This article was written by someone I personally taught how to factcheck. [Forbes] -
party report
Fake Steve Jobs gets down with San Francisco's filthiest hacks
The dirty secret behind last night's book-tour party for Dan Lyons, the man behind the Fake Steve Jobs blog? Rumor is it almost didn't happen, thanks to a little tiff over who was going to rep him. Flack fight! After the jump, the real battle over Fake Steve. More » -
dan lyons
Fake Steve Jobs talk turns into on-stage three-way
The Q&A session at the Computer History Museum last night was billed as a talk between former Apple evangelist turned venture capitalist Guy Kawasaki and former anonymous blogger turned book shill Dan Lyons, better known as Fake Steve Jobs. But it quickly turned into a sordid three-way. Brad Stone, the New York Times scribe who outed Lyons as Fake Steve joined the two on stage, and what was billed as the "Confessions of Fake Steve Jobs" turned into a celebration of Apple, blogging, and Dan Lyons's massive mancrush on the real Steve Jobs. More » -
leftards
Fake Steve cornered by politically-correct bookstore regulars
Options author Dan Lyons was Friday's guest author at Stacey's Bookstore in San Francisco's financial district. Several audience members — seemingly unaware that Lyons had written a parody about Steve Jobs — grilled the Forbes editor turned humorist on Apple's lack of corporate philanthropy and the allegedly widening income gap between Jobs and everyone else. When Lyons sputtered that he really didn't know the answers, one attendee snorted, "Aren't you supposed to be a business reporter?" I followed one of Lyons's attackers out of the store to a local Peet's, where she once again spoke truth to power. "It's frightening what they put in the food these days," she informed the barista. "Is this Fair Trade coffee?" -
dan lyons
Fake Steve Jobs author writes another book
Dan Lyons, the Forbes editor behind the Fake Steve Jobs media empire, has written a new book. Or he might has well have. Have you seen the man's LinkedIn profile? For interests, Lyons lists: "Skiing, rowing, running, chasing my two-year-old twins around the house." He should have added: "going on and on." The monstrosity comes in at 2,000 words. His summary alone hits 121. We wanted Paul Boutin to write a 100-word version, but he's too busy writing his review of Options for the Wall Street Journal on his BlackBerry. So here's my mercifully brief version of Lyons's "Experience" and "Education" fields, which he could use to outline his memoir: More » -
quotable
"If you're a CEO and you have time to write a blog, then what the fuck are you doing? Dude, you're supposed to be running a company." — Dan Lyons, the Forbes editor behind Fake Steve Jobs. Dan-O, is that anything like how your bosses at Forbes thought you were supposed to be writing for the magazine? [Wallstrip] -
deals
Facebook's hedge fund deals not signed yet
We picked up Dan Lyons's rumor as Fake Steve Jobs that Facebook has cajoled hedge funds into investing another $500 million, and noted that CFO Gideon Yu must never sleep. And Forbes, where Lyons has a day job, also called the deal complete. Not so, people familiar with the matter told the Wall Street Journal. The new investment will only be as much as another $260 million, making the total raised in this round, including Microsoft's money, $500 million. An announcement could come soon, but nothing's been signed yet. We know some VCs wanted in on this deal but hear it got too rich for them. (Photo by spcbrass) -
fake steve jobs
When did any blog become a reliable source?
Fatally overserious Read/WriteWeb blogger asks when Forbes editor Dan Lyons's Secret Diary of Steve Jobs became a "reliable source." He points to recent posts Lyons wrote as Fake Steve Jobs about PodTech and Facebook — both of which Valleywag picked up. I think the question is more when anyone at Read/WriteWeb ever had a blog post as funny, informative, and truthful — even when fictional — as Fake Steve. -
fake steve jobs
Fake Steve Jobs, Guy Kawasaki to mud-wrestle on stage
Ever since studly Timesman Brad Stone outed Forbes editor Dan Lyons as Fake Steve Jobs, the author of the faux-Apple CEO Web diary, I've been waiting to see what happens when Lyons meets up with some of the folks he's savaged as the blog's anonymous auteur. I'll get my first chance when Lyons gets interviewed by former Apple evangelist Guy Kawasaki, who's been repeatedly ridiculed by Lyons as Fake Steve. But why would Kawasaki display any hard feelings when he can use the notoriety of a feud to elevate his rapidly sinking profile? Dignity doesn't move units. The interview, sponsored by LinkedIn, takes place November 6 at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View. (Photos by hyku) -
online advertising
Forbes assimilates Fake Steve Jobs
In his guise as Fake Steve Jobs, Forbes editor Dan Lyons occasionally broke character to ask his readers for help in getting advertising for his site. It turns out that he could have just asked his bosses all along. The Secret Diary of Steve Jobs is now running an ad served by Forbes. The current campaign is for IBM, just a few inches above a post in which Fake Steve Jobs gloats about Apple's market cap passing Big Blue's. And to think — for this treatment, IBM is paying Forbes' staggering $109 CPM? Translation: Every time your Web browser pays homage to Fake Steve, a dime and a penny clink in the Forbes coffers. Congratulations, Dan-O: At last, you've made your sideline career as El Jobso pay off. -
fake steve jobs
Maybe that last encore except from Options: The Secret Life of Steve Jobs, a Parody was one too many. It's early, sure, but the book ranks way down at No. 1,432 on Amazon's bestseller list. Lesson? Fake Steve needs to send Moshe up to Seattle to have a chat with Jeff Bezos. [Amazon.com] -
fake steve jobs
Encore! One more from Fake Steve Jobs
Author Dan Lyons saw our excerpts from Options, his fictional novel as Fake Steve Jobs, and alerted his publisher. A nice young man from Sub Rights (whatever that is) rang my cellphone and, after checking out our posts, had one word: "Awesome." After the jump, a bonus three-fer. More » -
fake steve jobs
One last excerpt from Options, the fictional novel by Fake Steve Jobs poser Dan Lyons.
-
fake steve jobs
Another excerpt from Options, the fictional novel by Fake Steve Jobs poser Dan Lyons.


























