Bel Bruno, founding editor of dotLA, departs

Joe Bel Bruno, the founding editor of tech news site dotLA, has left the news organization.

dotLA was launched in January by former Zillow CEO Spencer Rascoff and Sam N. Adams to cover the Los Angeles tech and startup scene. It launched with $4 million in seed money and was supposed to be generating revenue from events.

“Yes, I can confirm that Joe has left dot.LA to pursue a new direction,” said Adams in an email. “We are deeply grateful for his time as our founding editor, having joined us before we even had a name, and wish him the best. He assembled an incredible newsroom and we are excited to find a worthy successor who will help accomplish our mission to shine a light on LA tech and startups.”

Bel Bruno had previously been at Variety as managing editor. Before that, he was the news director at the Hollywood Reporter.

He has also overseen entertainment coverage and was deputy business editor of the Los Angeles Times.

Before joining The Times, Bel Bruno ran markets coverage for the Dow Jones news wire and the Wall Street Journal. From 2004 to 2009, Bel Bruno was a national business writer for the Associated Press in New York, where he served as the lead stock market reporter and anchored the news service’s coverage of the financial crisis.

He spent three years in London  as senior correspondent for Knight Ridder Financial/Bridge News.

He’s also held spots at The Orange Country Register, Copley News Service and The Bond Buyer newspaper.