Scoop: Blogger Om Malik quits Business 2.0 and takes funding
UPDATE: New visitors, check out our follow-up post, Om money, Om problems. Then subscribe to news about blogger Om Malik.
Keep inflating the media-bubble-about-the-tech-bubble: blogger Om Malik took funding for his tech site, GigaOM. The news comes from a leaked internal memo from Business 2.0 editor Josh Quittner. Quittner says Om is dropping from senior writer to "contributing editor," but he'll still write a monthly column while he builds a Business 2.0 competitor. Here's the announcement:
From: <[josh quittner]>
Date: Thu, 8 Jun 2006 14:44:34 -0400
To: The Staff
Conversation: Om, Sweet Om
Subject: Om, Sweet Om
To: The staff
As many of you already know, Om Malik, after three years of writing about startups, Web 2.0, the GoogleNet and everything else, has decided to eat his own dog food. He's accepted seed funding to turn his mega-popular blog, gigaom.com, into a real business.
When Om told me about his plan to start a company, I reacted predictably: I burst into tears, fell to the floor, clutched his ankles, and begged him not to go. This had nothing to do with Om having introduced me to the superior grilled lamb chops at Pakwan. I really like the dude.
Luckily, I was able to make him an offer he couldn't refuse: Om will be staying on as a contributing editor, writing a monthly column for Business 2.0 that will start in September.
Watch this space for details of an upcoming pour celebrating Om's, and our, good fortune.
JQ