Silicon Valley Mixer

Come by Rudy's in Palo Alto on Weds, 7/27 to see me and PBS MediaShift founder and editorial director Mark Glaser.

Find the guy in the hat for a free drink. And sign up here, on Facebook, to let Mark know you’re coming!

Wednesday, July 27 · 6:30pm - 8:30pm
Location
Rudy’s Pub
117 University Ave.
Palo Alto, California

Ziff Davis Enterprise Will Change Name in Q3

The B2B media and events company Ziff Davis Enterprise will change its name in Q3, according to CEO Steven Weitzner. Speaking on the new Scribe Media 'Print to Digital' show, he noted the confusion over the name (for the record, I had that confusion -- check out his memo on the topic), and that he knew something had to change when three clients asked him about matters pertaining to Ziff Davis Media.

The latter, Media, is the publishing company, probably best known for its PC Magazine, that is moving to emerge from bankruptcy, on what may be a  faster than expected timeline.  They sold Ziff Davis Enterprise to Insight Venture Partners in 2007.

Weitzner, who joined in January, oversaw a re-org in April after installing a new management team and hinted there might be more changes afoot. Though he did say there is room for people who want to write long-form articles and not necessarily do lots of digital, blogs and the like -- albeit fewer than in the past. He didn't say what the companies new name would be, even when pressed by host Matthew Schwartz.

ZD Enterprise calls itself an "integrated media and demand generation" company -- meaning, basically, lead generation in the tech space. Its well-known brands include eWeek and CIO Insight. Weitzner talked, too, of having events in virtual reality, something they've experimented with in the past.

While we're on the topic of Scribe Media and shows: The show I'm hosting, which my company Teeming Media partnered with Scribe on called "Naked Media" launched on Tuesday and will be available on demand soon. Our next guest is Dave Morgan, former head of Tacoda, June 4 at noon ET.

Moonves: CBS Bought 'Wallstrip' for More than Talent

Auletta (right) questions Moonves at the "W" hotel in Manhattan.

CBS chief Les Moonves this morning at a breakfast hosted by Syracuse U's Newhouse School said he paid a lot to buy video blog Wallstrip because he wants programming to syndicate and send all over the Internet. And while he likes the talent of the folks who do the Wall Street parody site, "no" he didn't buy it just for the talent – which is how some have framed the deal.

Wallstrip's Howard Lindzon had earlier made the point that if CBS really just wanted the "face" of Wallstrip, Lindsay
Campbell, they would've signed just her.

Moonves said during the event, interviewed on stage by The New Yorker's Ken Auletta at a media power-filled room* that CBS had made 25 purchases in the past 60 days, four of them "content." He said he understands about half of what CBS' digital chief Quincy Smith tells him, but fortunately Smith "understands everything he says."

*Larry Kramer, Chris Napolitano, Ken's brother Richard – who does PR For the Mets – Newshouse dean David Rubin, former AP chief Lou Boccardi, Jack Myers -- whom I write for, Craig Sender of Trylon, Nat Ives of Ad Age, Esther Dyson, and many others I should mention. The event will be on C-SPAN, Ken Auletta said.