Gawker: valleywag, scott meyer

New York Times's About.com lands new CEO

Nicholas Carlson — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 17:00:00 EDT

After a long search, the New York Times Co.'s About.com has a new CEO, former Digitas exec Cella Irvine. We heard rumors the last one, Scott Meyer, was forced out in February; the management team, we were told, had threatened to quit if he wasn't. Commenters, including several claiming to be About.com employees, disputed the story. One, however, hinted at why Meyer really left:

I think the Times sees About as an ATM, and isn't willing to necessarily invest in securing talent.

Translation: The New York Times has no long-term vision for About.com, seeing it for what it is — professionally organized search-engine spam that'll make money no matter's who's "running" it.

Scott Meyer ousted in About.com staff revolt

Owen Thomas — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 19:23:31 EST

About.com's Scott Meyer was forced out as CEO of the New York Times-owned website after his senior staff threatened to quit unless he left, a tipster tells us. NYT CEO Janet Robinson had wanted to keep Meyer on, even though his reports ridiculed him as a biz-dev type who was clueless about the Web. That he left without a replacement indicates how deep the revolt went. For NYT Digital chief Martin Nisenholtz, who's running About.com for the time being, the gig is temporary, and involuntary. "Martin definitely doesn't want to run About," says our source — though he also pressed Robinson to do something about Meyer. As for replacements? Ron McCoy, the company's chief digital architect, and an early pioneer of search-engine optimization, is the heavy lifter at About.com, but he's not a candidate for the CEO spot: He flies in from Atlanta, and is said to be uninterested in management.

Why is Martin Nisenholtz running About.com?

Owen Thomas — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 16:00:39 EST

About.com, the '90s-vintage mess of protoblogs the New York Times Co. paid $410 million for three years ago, has lost its CEO, Scott Meyer, left. The departure is characterized as "amicable"; the circumstances, curious. The Times has been rumored to be shopping About.com, though the company denies it. Regardless, Meyer is not being replaced. Instead, Martin Nisenholtz, the digital chief at the Times, right, will run it directly. There are two interpretations here.

First, that the Times is having trouble recruiting a short-timer replacement to run the site until a sale. Second, that buyers for the site are scarce, and the Times realizes it. Nisenholtz's job responsibilities were greatly reduced when the Times merged its print and online newsrooms three years ago. Running About.com, especially if the company plans to keep it, would give him something to do besides speak at conferences.