Red Herring Relaunches With Website

Posted on October 24, 2003

Red Herring has been restructured into a media group that will investigate the business of technology through online content, newsletters, research and events. Redherring.com will deliver 90 stories each month analyzing the issues affecting the global IT industry.

Alex Vieux, an European technology entrepreneur, acquired Red Herring in April 2003 after the company shut down and ceased publication of the Red Herring print publication with the March, 2003 issue. The company saw its workforce slowly drop from a peak of 350 employees in 2000 as ad revenues dried up because of the dot-com crash.

For the last five months Vieux has been reshaping the company's new business plan, revenue structure, and editorial mission. Red Herring's new board of directors will include Tim Koogle (former Yahoo CEO), Arjun Gupta (Telesoft Partners), Tony Davila (Stanford Business School), Alona Barkat (BRM Ventures Israel) and Alan Mendelson (Lathan & Watkins).

"Red Herring has always played an important role in the technology industry, both as a source of informed commentary and a force driving capitalism in the market," says Vieux. "When the previous owners announced they were closing the publication's doors in March, I felt strongly that losing the Herring would be a blow to the IT community. We re-evaluated elements of the business that hadn't kept pace with today's economic realities and are now building on the brand's strong foundation to create a network of online content, research and events that offer a broader perspective on the global technology sector."

James Daly, who conceptualized Business 2.0 and served as the publication's Editor-in-Chief until 2001, will lead the Red Herring editorial team. His staff includes former Upside Editor-in-Chief Richard Brandt, senior writers and reporters from the original Red Herring team, and journalists who have contributed to publications ranging from the Economist to the Industry Standard.

Red Herring also plans to launch subscription-based newsletters on a range of topics from technology coming out from the leading research centers to venture capital and innovation creation at publicly traded technology firms. In December the company will host its first Red Herring conference, designed to provide a forum where industry trend-setters, venture capitalists and leading start-ups gather to share ideas about key technology directions. The new Red Herring also includes a research branch, which will focus on growth industries in technology.