More Kurnit: NYTCo Was Smart To Leave About.com Unblended
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The issue of what happens to a start-up that gets acquired by an established media company was a big part of the conversation between Scott Kurnit, Founder, About.com, and Staci D. Kramer, EVP and Co-Editor, ContentNext Media at our company’s EconAffinity conference this morning.
SEE ALSO: @ EconAffinity: Scott Kurnit: If You Have My Attention, You Will Make Money
For the most part, Kurnit praised NYTCo for the way it has let About.com operate independently. “I think they’ve been smart to leave About.com alone. It’s not in their building, the people are not forced into a lot of meetings about the NYTCo (NYSE: NYT). And they haven’t blended the two. [Previous owner] Primedia (NYSE: PRM) blended About with their other properties. That should have killed About.com. But [former About.com head, now CEO of e-mail provider Goodmail Systems] Peter Horan did a great job of unblending it and made it independent again, and the NYT bought it.” (Incidentally, Kurnit is an investor in Goodmail.) More after the jump
One of the reasons a blending would not necessarily work for About.com and the NYT is that the two are so different. While About.com is professional, it does have a more informal structure and is much more blog-like compared to the NYT. So, while Kurnit was worried he was going to be misquoted on this point, those differences are what he meant when he said, “The NYT is A-plus content and About.com is B-plus content.” In turn, he feels About’s revenue model is more efficient. “It’s tough being owned by any company desperate for EBITDA. That creates a certain kind of pressure. But if you look at NYTCo’s earnings, About.com brings in a lot of its revenues.”
@davidaKaplan
Jun 1, 2009 11:36 AM ET
Posted In: Advertising, Media & Publishing, Newspapers, Companies, New York Times
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