Gawker: valleywag, shelby bonnie

Ousted CNET editor and CEO return for vengeance

Paul Boutin — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 15:00:00 EDT

GiantBomb is a new gamer blog edited by Jeff Gerstmann, the CNET GameSpot editor fired last November over his negative — or "unprofessional," if you want the official version — reviews of an advertiser's game. GiantBomb is part of WhiskyMedia, a small startup run by Shelby Bonnie, who himself was forced out as CNET's CEO two years ago, after an investigation fingered him in a stock-options backdating scandal. Bonnie told Bits that he's not out to build another CNET: “Our goal is we want to remain less than 10 people." Valleywag's publisher used to talk like that, too.

Quincy Smith's one big idea

Owen Thomas — Thu, 15 May 2008 13:40:00 EDT

CNET has been eyed by Quincy Smith, CBS's hyperacquisitive online chief, long before he sealed a $1.8 billion deal to buy the company. As a banker at Allen & Co., CNET was his client. "At one point, he wrote this major presentation about how valuable content was," a tipster tells us. "The single example in it was CNET. It was basically his only idea." An unfair dig? Perhaps. There is little like CNET on the market — a pure play on professional online content worth $1.8 billion? It can't be found. But the lack of a direct competitor may have also been CNET's undoing — the mixed blessing that brought it under attack by activist investors and led it to CBS's waiting arms.

Sites like Engadget and Gizmodo (the latter published, like Valleywag, by Gawker Media) seemed too small to matter when they launched; by the time CNET got around to trying to compete with the tech blogs, it was too late. In the meantime, having deluded themselves into thinking they had conquered tech publishing, CNET managers pursued off-brand expansions into baby and food sites, areas in which it had no particular experience or other value to add.

CNET was at its sharpest when dueling with rival ZDNet, the online publisher of once-formidable tech publisher Ziff-Davis. Since it merged with ZDNet and became a conglomerate of online brands — hence the "CNET Networks" name — it has devolved into soft, bureaucratic mediocrity, a trend only accelerated by the departure of cofounder Shelby Bonnie in 2006. If buying CNET was Smith's one big idea, we'll gladly lend him another: Shuffle current CNET CEO Neil Ashe out the door as soon as possible.

(Image by Andrew Mager)

Buy CNET or the terrorists will have won

Owen Thomas — Wed, 03 Oct 2007 14:51:00 EDT

Reformed stock promoter Henry Blodget has a suggestion for CNET: Take it private, with the help of former CEO Shelby Bonnie. An excellent idea. From all we hear, morale couldn't be lower at the tech-news portal. And current CEO Neil Ashe isn't helping matters. His idea of a pep speech? "We should be more like Al Qaeda," he told an assembly of employees. You mean, hated by everyone on the planet? Judging from how his underlings feel, Ashe is getting a head start on that project inside his own offices. Cheer up, Neil! You just won the latest prize for being a Silicon Valley Tool.

Background: Who's pulling the strings at CNET?

Nick Douglas — Thu, 12 Oct 2006 19:11:59 EDT

CNET employees loved CEO Shelby Bonnie, according to the San Francisco Chronicle (and a CNETter confirms to me that there was loyalty since he'd been at the company since Day One). So it was a shock when he seemingly fired himself this week over overseeing improperly backdated stock options.

At first it looked like Bonnie (pictured) had made the decision himself — for instance, he stays on as a director, which would be odd if he were fired for misconduct. But when the chief counsel and human resources head were fired too, it became clear someone — maybe those leading the internal investigation — forced Bonnie to take one for the team.

Now CNET named Neil Ashe as Bonnie's replacement. Ashe was key in bringing in CNET acquisitions like Webshots, TV.com, and mp3.com. Some inside CNET say Bonnie had long planned for Ashe to succeed him, but president and COO Barry Briggs (who came with the acquisition of ZDNet) will feel stung for being passed over. Briggs is publishing royalty, son of a partner at former ZDNet parent Ziff-Davis Publishing.

Cnet loses its heart and soul executive [SF Chronicle; photo by JD Lasica]