Posted on 02/09/2005 5:18:09 PM PST by constitoot
The Founder of Salon Is Passing the Mouse By DAVID CARR
avid Talbot, a pioneer of online journalism who founded Salon magazine in 1995, will announce today that he is stepping down as the magazine's editor in chief, chief executive and relentless cheerleader. He will be replaced as editor, he said, by Joan Walsh, his longtime deputy.
Salon will also announce its first profitable quarter in its history, Mr. Talbot added, a profit of $400,000 on revenues of $2.2 million. The company also said that Elizabeth Hambrecht, Salon's president, would become its chief executive.
Salon has its headquarters in San Francisco, so the fact that it has had a long, strange trip makes sense. Four years after it began publishing, the Web site announced an era-appropriate initial public offering in June 1999, and saw its stock soar to a high of $15.13 in July of that year. Salon lived up to some of the journalistic hype, but it has had a tortured business history that includes several cash infusions from investors more interested in Salon's liberal political agenda than in getting a return on their money; on Wednesday, its stock was trading at 14 cents a share. But $50 million later, it is also beginning to show at least some signs of business life, with revenues from a combination of subscribers - 88,000 people who pay an average of $30 a year, the company says - and a share of the growing Internet advertising market. The future of one of the Web's premier brands that was perpetually in danger of ending up in the recycle bin seems assured.
"I think the timing is right," said Mr. Talbot, who will continue as chairman of the company while he works on a book about Robert F. Kennedy. "If the business was shaky, I would feel uncomfortable, but things are now stable and I think I am handing my baby off to two women I have complete trust in."
A former newspaperman at The San Francisco Examiner, Mr. Talbot sensed a significant business opportunity when the Web began to flourish and became one of its chief evangelists. At the time, the Web was seen not only as a utility for consumers, but as a potential giant killer as well. "Dead-tree" journalism would go the way of typewriters, the theory went, and nimble, lippy sources of information like Salon, and its chief competitor, Slate, would become the must-click option for those in search of up-to-the-minute information.
In the beginning, Salon staked a claim on cultural coverage, publishing as much as a book review a day, tart media reporting and a sex column by Courtney Weaver that was followed breathlessly by thousands. At the end of the 1990's, the site began to add political news to its mix, some of which opened eyes at other, significantly larger news organizations. Salon was the first publication to point out why it was that Representative Henry Hyde, an Illinois Republican, should not have been throwing stones during the Monica Lewinsky affair. It also played a significant role in revealing some of the allegedly anti-competitive practices of Clear Channel, and broke the news that the White House was pressuring broadcasters to insert anti-drug messages into programming. More recently, Salon raised significant and lasting questions about President Bush's National Guard service.
At its peak, Salon had 60 editorial staffers on various beats, with departments as varied as health, business and politics. But as financing began to dwindle after the bust in 2001, the site's ambitions and staff withered. The company now has 55 full-time employees, 22 of whom work on the editorial side.
no way! can this be true!
Any normal business would have been dust under the investors' boots, with TEN YEARS of no profit.
$40K/year on average, in SF. To say nothing of bandwidth, rent etc.
I'd guess they are capitalizing ongoing costs to make themselves look better. (Which is how a former employer operated, it usually does'nt end happily). Not sure if it's fraudulant. Depends on the details.
A profitable quarter. So, how many more quarters to get out of the hole?
Huge investment for such small results.
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Uhh . . . these are quarterly numbers. That's an average of $160,000 per year per employee (assuming every penny went to salaries, which of course, can't happen. But still.)
They made a whole quarter profit? Far out!
BTW, back when Salon wasn't a PINK SLIP PENNY STOCK, you used to be able to track a George Hambrecht proping up Salon with cash infusions. Who's Liz? His wife? His daughter? His new wife who's as lod as his daughter?
Squid Blumenthal is gone from Salon I beleive. Looks like the paid Squid what he was worth from that chart.
Am I reading that right? Their first profitable quarter in 10 years?
Well, Salon is now on corporate welfare because it won;t pay taxes on its income. Scum.
From my home page.
"There is a hard-core conservative information infrastructure in this country, and they've been using it against Salon for some time now."
-- David Talbot
Salon Magazine
I've done this a couple of times, each time with at least a 30% return. Salon is so cheap and volatile that this trick actually works with only a little capital investment. I'm afraid to try it with a larger dollar amount, though, because of the eventual possibility that the libs will wise up and stop saving their virtual fishwrap.
% of Shares Held by All Insider and 5% Owners: = 81%
I though of doing what you're doing but...Too thinly traded for my blood.
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