Gawker
-
business models
Zombie Business Model Revived By Hungry Blogs
Tech blog company GigaOm is starting a subscription research service to drum up cash; some think TechCrunch could soon follow. It would seem everything old in tech media is new again: Bloated dot-com magazines attempted this same tactic amid the popping of the last financial bubble. More »
0
5
By Ryan TateComment by sggrf: add gigaom to the deadpool cuz this will never FLY! more » | Other threads
-
Blaise Zerega
Portfolio editor goes startup
The only thing more foolish than joining a startup right now is staying at a print magazine. Portfolio's San Francisco-based deputy editor, Blaise Zerega, has left the Condé Nast business magazine. He's now the president and COO of Fora.tv, an online-video startup which collects clips of those boring public-affairs speeches we all dread attending, but go for the mingling and cocktails that follow. Not clear how Fora.tv will reproduce mingling and cocktails online. One other thing notable about Fora.tv: Its address, 1550 Bryant Street. That's the same building where Zerega and I worked at the old Red Herring, back when it was a respectable chronicler of the technology business.
0
By Owen ThomasComment by Our Lady of the Massacre: Well that's hardly shocking. Everyone in San Fransisco is in a startup. 1 Responses | Other threads
-
deathwatch
Oh, Canada? Red Herring postpones event from May to June to September
With constant staff turnover and an eviction from its offices, at this point it would be more surprising if Red Herring managed to put together an event at all. Its Canadian startup showcase was originally scheduled for this week; citing a conflict with a Canadian venture-capital conference, the Herring moved it to June. Publisher Alex Vieux missed a poorly attended "introductory cocktail" party for the event in March; his staff put his absence down to a missed flight connection. Now the event has been rescheduled for September — the same month as the Herring's hastily postponed wireless conference in Beijing, and its Asia conference in Hong Kong. Vieux will have plenty of opportunities to miss flight connections — if any of the events happen at all.
0
By Owen ThomasComment by bragball: bad managing a magazine is one thing... now Vieux screws up planning/organizing events as well.... more » | Other threads
-
deathwatch
Red Herring website outage an unfortunate coincidence
Alex Vieux's Red Herring isn't just poorly managed; it's unlucky as well. I just got off the phone with Vassil Mladjov, CEO of Blogtronix, the blog-software company which hosts RedHerring.com. He blames the site's outage — which comes the same week as the Herring's eviction from its offices and the cancellation of a Herring event in China — on a bug involving log files, and says the site will be back up shortly. Mladjov adds that unpaid bills aren't the issue; Blogtronix arranged to get paid through a barter deal.
0
By Owen ThomasComment by NoDomainsForSale: The old Red Herring zeitgeist lives on at: [alwayson.goingon.com] AlwaysOn was founded by Tony Perkins, one of the original editors at Red... more » | Other threads
-
deathwatch
Red Herring cancels China event with one week's notice
Red Herring's magazine has not been regularly printed in ages. Today, its its website has been displaying error messages — not that readers are missing much of the understaffed RedHerring.com's output. Herring's conference business alone has been sustaining Alex Vieux's rocky tech-publishing empire. But that, too, seems to be falling apart. A commenter has posted what he claims is an email from Vieux announcing the cancellation of next week's Red Herring Wireless conference in Beijing. At first it struck me as ludicrous that Vieux would cancel one of his cash-cow events. But I called the host hotel, the Ritz-Carlton Beijing, and staff there confirmed that the event was off. Vieux's email cites "difficult personal family health problems" as the reason. If true, it is most unlucky for Vieux that these health issues just happened to coincide with an eviction from Herring's Belmont headquarters. More »
0
By Owen ThomasComment by wavalley: This is absoultely ridiculous. There is clearly no way Herring will pay back registration fees; not to mention reimburse travel... more » | Other threads
-
crime
Did Red Herring employees break into their old office?
A call to Red Herring publisher Alex Vieux through his old office line, 650 428 2900, was answered today by a man with an Eastern European accent who said Vieux wasn't there. Why was anyone there to answer the phone? Yesterday, the Herring's landlord sent a locksmith, an attorney, and sheriff's deputies to evict Vieux from the building, prompting a hasty exit. Vieux claims he has a new office, but wouldn't give out its address. If so, it's possible Vieux had the phone line forwarded there. But it's also possible, a former employee says, that Herring employees broke into their former office: "I wouldn't be shocked if Vieux & Co. just went in through one of the side doors that is not well secured." Wouldn't that be trespassing, though?
0
By Owen ThomasComment by johnnypotatoes: The site was up the other day, and even had fresh (or at least freshly timestamped) content. It's down now. [downforeveryoneorjustme.com] more » | Other threads
-
deathwatch
Startups brag about homeless Herring honor
The news of Red Herring's eviction from its office has not given the Valley's PR machine even a momentary pause. At last count, 89 press releases have hit Google News touting some startup's listing on the Red Herring 100 North America. What none disclose: Whether they paid Red Herring to be included on the list. Several companies have told Valleywag that publisher Alex Vieux emailed them after naming them as "finalists" for the Herring 100, suggesting that they buy event tickets or pay for a promotional video. Vieux's landlord must be flabbergasted that despite these surely lucrative quid-pro-quo awards, Vieux still wasn't able to pay his rent.
0
By Owen ThomasComment by bierhausser: So what's the herring's new digs like? do they still have the FLAGPOLE and the Herring Flag? jimski more » | Other threads
-
deathwatch
Alex Vieux to publish Red Herring from undisclosed location
The delusional Alex Vieux's powers of spin are prodigious. He has characterized the eviction of Red Herring, his tottering tech-publishing enterprise, from its Belmont office to News.com as an "economic decision." An economic decision which involved a locksmith, the landlord's attorney, and assorted sheriff's deputies. Normally, working out a rent dispute doesn't require officers of the peace. Were Vieux to be convicted of a crime and jailed, would he describe his sentence as a "period of voluntary seclusion"? (We speak theoretically, of course.) He also told News.com that he had secured a new office, but would not say where it is.
0
By Owen ThomasComment by freshtaste: Also, the labor practices. We need to get into this. Red Herring liked to hire immigrants and exploit them because... more » | Other threads
-
-
0
By Owen ThomasComment by freshtaste: @valleygal33: It will sink through the bottom of the ocean, to where the magma is. That's his secret plan! mwha... more » | Other threads
-
deathwatch
Hard-up Herring shakes down startups
At Red Herring, every startup is a winner — but publisher Alex Vieux is the one who takes the prize. Indeed, handing out prizes seems to be the main way Vieux is keeping it afloat. The once-vital technology publisher, which Vieux has all but run into the ground, no longer prints a magazine. A tipster says healthcare for its workers has been cancelled for nonpayment. Its website, which used to mostly carry wire copy, now produces a pitiful handful of stories each day. But the Herring is still flopping around with an events business. The next one, Red Herring 100 North America, due to be held in San Jose later this month, will celebrate 100 startups of Vieux's choosing. And how does he select them from a list of 204 finalists? A come-on email and phone call one startup received is revealing: More »
0
By Owen ThomasComment by myfriendster: After all we know about the RH, I found amusing to see that Monsieur Vieux is calling start-ups to fire... more » | Other threads
-
deathwatch
Red Herring video team quits en masse
Why is Red Herring hiring five videographers for its already launched Red Herring TV? Because the current team, led by journalist Sean Wolfe, pictured here mid-interview, quit on publisher Alex Vieux. The mass resignation was prompted by another one of Vieux's tirades, but Wolfe and his colleagues also cited erratic pay and a decline in journalistic standards. Their claim: Vieux was trying to turn the video group into a production house for promotional clips custom-made for event sponsors. Anyone thinking about taking the video gig at Red Herring TV would do well to read their resignation letter: More »
0
By Owen ThomasComment by luckyrocketship: BleedsRed, It doesn't seem like you care about these video "Kids" too much. Your seemingly honorable pleas ring false to my... more » | Other threads
-
deathwatch
Red Herring owes the taxman $2 million, ex-employees say
The longevity of troubled tech publisher Red Herring was a mystery until one ex-employee enlightened me: Publisher Alex Vieux simply doesn't pay his bills. What a brilliant way to achieve positive cash flow! Alas, Vieux has encountered a creditor who won't be stiffed: the IRS. The agency is looking into Vieux's Herring for what may be $2 million in unpaid payroll taxes, ex-employees who have been contacted by investigators have told me. Vieux is experienced at dodging the taxman: Farley Duvall, a longtime lieutenant, told colleagues he'd fled French police seeking to seize company documents in Paris, and drove in the middle of the night to Switzerland, where he rebuilt the Herring's European operations. Now Swiss authorities are asking questions about — you guessed it — unpaid taxes. But it's the American taxman who may put Vieux behind bars. More »
0
By Owen ThomasComment by fishneversleep: The first rule of Valleywag: never pitch Valleywag. The second rule: everything you read on Valleywag is true unless it would... more » | Other threads
-
deathwatch
Work for the Red Herring? Hope you don't get a toothache
Paying bills is for the little people. Not Alex Vieux, publisher of the Red Herring, who has left a trail of stiffed vendors behind him — hotels, software makers, and consultants. The latest to go unpaid: Red Herring's dental and vision insurance plan. A former employee still getting benefits through COBRA tells us that on a visit to his eye doctor, he was told he no longer had coverage. A plan administrator told the ex-Herring that even though his COBRA bills had been paid on time, Red Herring hadn't paid the insurers — so forget seeing dentists or optometrists. For now, Red Herring's current and former employees still have regular medical coverage, but that's it. Oh, and what's this we hear about unpaid taxes? A sick business indeed.
0
By Owen ThomasComment by raincoaster: @Owen Thomas: I'm not 100% sure, but I think it's felonious, actually. more » | Other threads
-
deathwatch
Red Herring still trying to staff up?
A tipster tells us that he was approached by Red Herring to work as a reporter from his "home office," probably something similar to the job listed on the Herring website for a wireless reporter. He turned the job down very quickly, but says that he later talked to the fellow who ended up taking the job who was having "difficulty" getting paid. No surprise there, given the "difficulties" the magazine has had recently. "What pissed me off most was that they were approaching people when they had to know they were in such financial straits."
0
Comment by Not2L8: This is nothing new. RH has burned friends, investors, vendors and employees. Typically by getting them to come 'onboard' in... more » | Other threads
-
deathwatch
Red Herring promises a really fake cover
Mobile Rules, a business-plan competition for wireless startups, is promising winners the ultimate booby prize: their photo on the cover of Red Herring magazine next March. One small problem: With printing and distribution bills reportedly unpaid, the Herring has given up on the paper-magazine business. An online-only magazine cover somehow seems unsatisfying. But give Herring publisher Alex Vieux this much credit: It's a very economical prize. -
deathwatch
Red Herring defaults, again
When Red Herring, the troubled tech publisher, got an eviction notice, editor-in-chief Joel Dreyfuss tried to pass it off as a quirk of publisher Alex Vieux's financial-management strategy. "That's just how Alex pays his bills," said Dreyfuss. Or rather, doesn't pay his bills. Already, Vieux's Herring has been ordered to pay Comerica Bank $180,457 plus interest for an unpaid loan. But now, it looks like he don't even have the time, money, or inclination to dispute his debts. A look at San Mateo County Court records reveals that two recent cases brought against Red Herring, Inc, have been awarded to the plaintiffs in default judgments. In other words, Vieux's legal representatives didn't even bother to show up in court. More » -
hires
One more down at the Red Herring
Congratulations to Scott Morrison, the former editor of Red Herring's website, on escaping the troubled publication and landing a new job in the San Francisco bureau of Dow Jones. No matter what they say, Rupert Murdoch has to be a better boss than Alex Vieux, whose mismanagement is driving the once-storied tech-magazine brand into the ground. We suspected he was on to greener pastures when coworkers told us he started missing work, but an announcement on the website of the The Society of American Business Editors and Writers confirms the new position for us. And for the rest of his colleagues, too. Note to Scott, next time you switch gigs, it might be more polite to send out an internal email before your underlings find out via an industry newsletter. Or some scurrilous gossip rag.
0
Comment by bierhausser: SO WHO'S LEFT... The Vieux and Joel Dreyfus and Anam???? That's pretty sad. Jim Sullivan more » | Other threads
-
party report
A Demo reunion in Palo Alto
Through her Demo conference, Chris Shipley strands some of the most important people in tech together in the desert and forces them to pay attention to strange new ideas. It's like Burning Man without the playa dust and with much fancier drinks, or so I'm told. The experience is apparently scarring enough to bond people for life, judging by the palsy-walsy crowd of past Demo participants and guests who crowded into Palo Alto's Zibibbo restaurant Tuesday night to mingle and mix with other "alumni." More »
0
Comment by sattak: Vieux looks like the only one in a tie. Loosen up buddy; your company will be bankrupt soon more » | Other threads
-
deathwatch
The business side of Red Herring bleeds
To date, I've mostly told you about the mayhem on the masthead of Red Herring, the troubled tech publication whose finances are so dire that it recently received an eviction notice. And sure enough, there have been further departures since our last report. But the business side, it seems, is in equal disarray. David Dolnick, a longtime right-hand man of Herring owner Alex Vieux. Dolnick ran the conferences business for Vieux, and, rumor has it, acted as a "fixer" for all kinds of matters on Vieux's overseas trips. Also gone: Herring president Gordon Haight, who headed up sales. With both conferences and ad sale in disarray, the Herring's next payroll run should be, as they say, quite interesting.
0
By Owen ThomasComment by Wagwatcher: As someone who worked with Dolnick, I heard he was on Valleywag's RH watch, I had to sound off. He... more » | Other threads
-
deathwatch
Red Herring can't update its masthead fast enough
I'm sure that for people at Red Herring, the troubled tech publication that has difficulty paying its bills, updating its masthead has long been the lowest priority. The list of staffers has seemed out of date every time I've checked. It has changed recently, I note — but not fast enough to track of the latest round of departures. Red Herring board members got an eyeful of the shrinking masthead when they arrived at the office last Friday and were greeted by a nearly empty newsroom. Even people still on payroll — whatever "payroll" means at the Herring — are often absent, ostensibly for "health reasons" (translation: job interviews). After the jump, a list of the fish who we hear have jumped out of the pond — or are trying to do so. More »
0
By Owen ThomasComment by masterofmonkeys: @aformeremployee: Cheers? CHEERS! Why don't you just sign your name there, bub. ;-) more » | Other threads
-
deathwatch
Someone else thinks the Herring is fishy
An idea so brilliant, we hate its creators for coming up with it before we did. Some mischief-makers have launched Dead Herring, a "parody of business" mocking Red Herring, the Silicon Valley tech publication. Flopping around like a fish gasping for air in its efforts to stay in business, the Herring is clearly making enemies — first and foremost the companies and writers it's apparently stiffed. An amusing anecdote: According to the site, the Herring named Text 100 as a conference sponsor without consulting the PR agency first. That's going to make for an interesting collections call.
0
By Owen ThomasComment by DavidMcCulloch: Text 100 enjoys a good promotional deal as much as the next chap, but the truth is we haven't had... more » | Other threads
-
deathwatch
Red Herring announces nonexistent digital edition
Olive Software, a Santa Clara-based company that may, quite possibly, be almost as badly run as the Red Herring, has teamed up with the troubled tech publication to announce a Herring digital edition. It's supposedly a faithful copy of the print Red Herring, which has been missing from newsstands for month. Unsurprisingly, there's no link to the digital edition in the press release, and it's nowhere to be seen on the Red Herring website. "Viewing Red Herring on the Web is now as compelling and easy as reading the magazine in print," Olive boasts. True enough. Neither one can be found by readers. And I suspect neither one really exists, excepts in Herring owner Alex Vieux's fevered imagination.
0
By Owen ThomasComment by Balanced64: I must be living in Alex's mind then - because I have received my digital edition of Red Herring since... more » | Other threads
-
explainer
Red Herring displays its ignorance
Still on deathwatch, Red Herring, the once-storied tech publication, is displaying its straitened circumstances even in its copy. The few articles on its website that aren't Reuters wire stories seem to be written by a skeleton crew, with equally skeletal thought behind them. Take, for example, Cassimir Medford's puff piece on Ooma, the also-doomed VOIP startup. Medford, ostensibly Red Herring's "telecom and wireless reporter," includes this doozy:The name Ooma was chosen because it invokes curiosity, Mr. Frame said. Also it has four letters and the IP address was readily available.
Here's what's wrong with that — and what it shows is wrong with the Herring. More »
0
By Owen ThomasComment by Owen Thomas: @Joe Clark: I'd like to issue a public apology to Medford for suggesting that he might be able to learn... more » | Other threads
-
feuds
Om Malik's fishy hires
For Earth2Tech, the new green blog from GigaOm, founder Om Malik has hired Adena DeMonte away from the Red Herring, the struggling publication we've put on a deathwatch. That's got to be the last straw for Herring editor Joel Dreyfuss (pictured, right). Rumor has it that Dreyfuss at one point told Malik to stop poaching the Herring's best writers. Malik, of course, is a former Herring writer, but the publication in its current form and under current management bears no relationship, aside from the name, to the storied tech magazine Malik worked for earlier in this decade. Why Dreyfuss feels Malik's not entitled to fish in his pond is a mystery to me — unless it's just a sign of his general frustration with trying to bail out a sinking ship.
0
By Owen ThomasComment by Nick Douglas: By the way, has anyone actually HELD that magazine? I did when Liz Gannes -- un-bylined, like everyone at the... more » | Other threads
-
self-referential
Brian Caulfield catches Valleywag, red-handed, committing an act of journalism in pursuit of the Red Herring story. [Forbes.com]
0
By Owen ThomasComment by Owen Thomas: @ResearchZilla: You saw the photo we took of the exterior of Red Herring's building. Unfortunately, the few Herring employees who... more » | Other threads
-
red herring
Death of a salesforce, redux
Last week, as we continued Red Herring's deathwatch, we got a particularly vivid tale of one salesman's departure from the troubled tech publication. But now, another eyewitness tells us we missed the salesman's best line, as he and Herring owner Alex Vieux nearly came to blows over a withheld commission check. "Go ahead, put your hands on me," the salesman reportedly told Vieux. "It will be the best business decision you ever made." Vieux, of course, kept his record of achievement intact: the pair never actually came to blows. -
deathwatch
Red Herring faces possible eviction
That emergency Friday-night meeting at Red Herring, the once-storied tech publisher we've had on deathwatch for what seems like endless months? The agenda was to discuss, an informant tells us, an eviction notice, giving the greatly diminished Herring three days to pay rent or vacate its Belmont, Calif. premises. All employees packed up their personal belongings — presumably out of a fear that, come Monday, they wouldn't be able to get back in to fetch them. And where was owner Alex Vieux? In meetings, most of the day, with Herring editor Joel Dreyfuss — who, we imagine, like most of the staff, is curious when he'll next be paid. Or if.
0
By Owen ThomasComment by mylf1966: A: MEGAN: It is not Orange its Lemans Sunset, a very hot color these days. Obviously your the owner of... more » | Other threads
-
deathwatch
The meetings will continue until morale improves
We now hear that the remaining sales and finance employees of Red Herring are locked in a meeting in the company's Belmont, Calif. headquarters. A meeting, one should note, that only got started at 5:30 p.m. On a week that most of the Valley took as a holiday. Well, that should boost the spirits of workers at the troubled publication. Also, we understand that Adecco, a staffing company, has pulled out all of its contractors working at the Herring. Could that have anything to do with Alex Vieux's reputation as a tardy payer?
0
By Owen ThomasComment by BillyShears: Good God, I'm SO glad I didn't take that job they offered me last year. I knew something was fishy... more » | Other threads
-
red herring
When all else fails, launch a social network
Red Herring, the print magazine, no longer publishes. RedHerring.com, the website, is on its last legs, running Reuters wire copy and the occasional blog post. Red Herring's conference business, too, is in disarray, with cut-rate tickets being issued for last month's Red Herring East to fill seats, and the host hotel cancelling next month's Red Herring Japan. So what does owner Alex Vieux do? Why, launch a social network, of course. (Even that idea's not original: The old Herring had ambitions, pre-bubble, for a similar site called Herringtown.) Valleywag has an exclusive screenshot of the not-ready-for-primetime site, called RH27, after the jump. More »
0
By Owen ThomasComment by fishneversleep: Don't blame Alex Vieux. It was Susan Wojcicki's idea. more » | Other threads
-
red herring
Death of a salesforce
Outside its Belmont, Calif. headquarters, the Red Herring's standard flaps stolidly in the breeze. All seems quiet. There's no sign of the fireworks that went off Thursday afternoon in the dying publication's offices. That's when a salesman, realizing he'd been stiffed on his commission, nearly got into fisticuffs with Alex Vieux, the diminutive owner of a diminishing media empire. The inside story, from an informant, after the jump. More » -
deathwatch
Red Herring's cash crunch
For most folks, Friday is payday. Not so at the Red Herring. Last week, we're told, the swiftly sinking tech publisher barely made payroll. Alex Vieux, the publication's owner, has a long history of paying vendors late, or never. But now he's resorted to shorting his management team, too. No surprise: Since it's no longer bothering to print an actual magazine, labor is the only major cost left for Vieux to cut. But Vieux's minions, for once, are in revolt over the move. More » -
death of print
Phones dead at Red Herring
NICK DOUGLAS — The silent death of Red Herring continues as the Silicon Valley magazine, now defaulting on a loan, slips into the night. Says a reader: "Another sign of RH's imminent folding? Every number at RH seems disconnected - maybe they didn't pay the bills?"
0
By Nick DouglasComment by absolutelyrachel: I just received a RH in Dallas, TX. I guess the print version is not dead... yet! more » | Other threads
-
red herring
Red Herring Writers Apply for Credit
—Megan McCarthy, More »
0
By rabruzzoComment by irinaslutsky: Ucilia's going away party was last week i think. and my first blog (aw) i started cuz of this dumb... more » | Other threads
-
kevin mitnick
Nitpick with Mitnick: An ex-con explains the HP snooping fiasco
Liberal bias aside, journalists hate telling a one-sided story, so the Red Herring needed a source sympathetic to Hewlett-Packard's phone-record-snooping chairwoman, Patricia Dunn. Someone who's done their own social engineering. Someone hardcore. And writer Brian Caulfield found one: Kevin Mitnick. More » -
tony perkins
Tony Perkins' embarrassing web stats
To turn around the phrase on its head, on the web, everyone knows you're a dog. The internet may provide anonymity to individuals, but it leaves publishers nowhere to hide. A reader emails in about Tony Perkins, 'creator' and editor-in-chief of AlwaysOn, his news site for venture capitalists and other members of the Silicon Valley elite. More »
0
By Nick DentonComment by George B: Perkins is just an old media guy that doesn't grok the web. I visited the AlwaysOn website about a year... more » | Other threads
-
alex vieux
Well, Alex Vieux knows women don't wear ties.
Oh, you people are too good to me. I got a tip about Alex Vieux, publisher of Red Herring and founder and CEO of DASAR. Not one, but two tidbits — one for the home, one for the office. More »
0
By ndouglasComment by irinaslutsky: listen, if you're gonna have rumors at least get it right! it was Christmas 2004 and Charvet ties! more » | Other threads
- 1
1-36 of 36 for "Valleywag, Red Herring"
