All Things D editors complete deal with NBC Universal

AllThingsD editors Walt Mossberg and Kara Swisher, who are leaving The Wall Street Journal and Dow Jones & Co. at the end of the year, completed a deal with NBCUniversal for a news and conference business that will bring their current staff to a newly named tech news website, reports Edmund Lee and Serena Saitto of Bloomberg News.

Lee and Saitto write, “Mossberg and Swisher will have majority control of the venture, with NBCUniversal and another unnamed investor together taking about a third of the business, according to one of the people, who asked not to be identified because the matter is still private. The new business tentatively plans to announce the agreement on Jan. 2, they said.

“The deal provides NBCUniversal, owned by Comcast Corp., with a bigger entry into technology coverage and potentially gives the startup’s stories exposure on CNBC, NBC News and MSNBC. The test for Mossberg and Swisher, who co-manage AllThingsD’s news and conference operations, is whether they can duplicate the success they had building the original business — while also competing with former parent News Corp.

“‘It’s like they’re moving from one fast-moving train to another,” said Ken Doctor, a media analyst with Burlingame, California-based Outsell Inc. ‘It’s a good fit for Walt and Kara, and it has a lot of potential. NBC is one of the few that has reach and money and is newly appreciative of content.'”

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