Categories: OLD Media Moves

NBC close to investing in Swisher/Mossberg tech site

NBCUniversal is close to a deal to take a minority stake in a new company being started by technology journalists Walt Mossberg and Kara Swisher, reports Keach Hagey of The Wall Street Journal.

Hagey writes, “Mr. Mossberg and Ms. Swisher now run AllThingsD, a website owned by Dow Jones & Co., the News Corp unit that also publishes The Wall Street Journal.

“In September, Mr. Mossberg, Ms. Swisher and Dow Jones announced that they wouldn’t be renewing their partnership when their contract expires at the end of the year. As a result, Mr. Mossberg, who has been the Journal’s Personal Technology columnist since 1991, is leaving the paper.

“Mr. Mossberg and Ms. Swisher have said they plan to start a new company with a new name next year. Several media companies, including Hearst Corp., have had talks with the pair about investing in the company. Hearst is no longer in talks, people familiar with the matter say.

“As part of the expected deal with NBCUniversal, the media company’s TV networks are expected to get access to content produced by Ms. Swisher and Mr. Mossberg’s new company. NBCU, which is a unit of Comcast Corp., owns the NBC broadcast network, as well as CNBC and MSNBC.”

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Chris Roush

Chris Roush was the dean of the School of Communications at Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Connecticut. He was previously Walter E. Hussman Sr. Distinguished Professor in business journalism at UNC-Chapel Hill. He is a former business journalist for Bloomberg News, Businessweek, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Tampa Tribune and the Sarasota Herald-Tribune. He is the author of the leading business reporting textbook "Show me the Money: Writing Business and Economics Stories for Mass Communication" and "Thinking Things Over," a biography of former Wall Street Journal editor Vermont Royster.