Lost Remote
Lost Remote, Cory Bergman’s blog tracking the intersections of TV and social media, has been acquired by Mediabistro parent company WebMediaBrands.
Bergman, whose day job is general manager of Breaking News, writes that he will “continue to play an active role” as an editor. From his blog post:
Larger publishers have started to cover social TV, and I realized we needed help growing Lost Remote — especially into the events side of the business. After exploring a few options, I agreed to sell to WebMediaBrands, a network of TV and social media sites that includes the likes of TVNewser and AllFacebook. The deal preserves my involvement while they leverage their network, resources and events expertise to take Lost Remote to the next level.
The acquisition is the latest in a long line of niche media-news properties the company has amassed. In many cases, WebMediaBrands buys niche blogs founded by young up-and-comers whose successful websites have outgrown their ability or desire to manage the growth independently.
- TVNewser (2004): 18-year-old college student Brian Stelter sold ownership of the site, then called CableNewser, to then-independent Mediabistro in 2004. After graduation, Stelter moved on in 2007 to become a media reporter for The New York Times.
- Mediabistro.com (2007): WebMediaBrands, known prior to 2009 as Jupitermedia, bought what would become its centerpiece media property for $23 million. Laurel Touby, who founded Mediabistro in 1994, said she wanted to focus on investing in and advising other startups, rather than running the multimillion-dollar business Mediabistro had become.
- Sept. 23, 2009: WebMediaBrands Chairman and CEO Alan Meckler foreshadows many upcoming moves in a tweet:
We are on the prowl for acquisitions.Send me ideas.
— Alan Meckler (@alanmeckler) September 24, 2009
- AllFacebook (2009): Founder Nick O’Neill sells his Facebook news blog to WebMediaBrands but remains involved.
- TVSpy (2010): Founder Don Fitzpatrick was already a pretty big deal in the industry for years and had sold TVSpy (including ShopTalk) off to Vault Inc. in 2001. Fitzpatrick died in 2006 at the age of 56. Vault sold the site four years later (Poynter was among the early bidders).
- 10,000 Words (2010): Founded by Mark Luckie, who by then had become the national innovations editor at The Washington Post, and now is Twitter’s chief liaison to journalists. “The blog had outgrown me,” Luckie told me today by email. “Starting at The Post provided a convenient transition time, but I knew the blog had grown bigger than what I could contribute to it as a single blogger. I was already thinking about the next steps for the blog prior to my new position and the sale to Mediabistro allowed me to grow the blog in the direction I knew it had the potential to go.”
- Twittercism (2011): Founder Shea Bennett sold his Twitter analysis and commentary blog, which WebMediaBrands folded into its existing AllTwitter blog.
- Lost Remote (2012).
Related: Turner Broadcasting acquires Bleacher Report (All Things D) for just under $200 million (Bloomberg).
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