New York Times business editor Dean Murphy sent out the following staff hire on Thursday:
With Jenna Wortham joining Sunday Business, our New York-based tech contingent requires some replenishing. The void Jenna leaves behind is a vast one, so not just anybody will do.
We’re thrilled to announce that we’ve found a terrific not-just-anybody — Mike Isaac of re/code.
Mike has been a senior editor at re/code and its predecessor – AllThingsD at The Wall Street Journal – for the past two years. He’s covered tech companies of all sorts, including Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, and in doing so, has been a fierce rival. “He’s really good,” says Claire Cain Miller, “a strong competitor to us, fast on breaking news, good at digging up news and also a really nice, funny and collegial guy.”
Mike actually knows many of our tech reporters – when he worked at wired.com, one of his editors was Brian Chen – and as we nosed around for just the right reporter to hire, we were bombarded with recommendations to talk to Mike. He is not only a deeply sourced reporter, but he is a versatile writer, digitally savvy and has a knack for getting scoops.
Mike lives in the San Francisco Bay Area – he graduated from the University of California, Berkeley, in 2010 with a degree in English literature — and is in the process of moving to Brooklyn. He says moving is no big deal – having done so 28 (yes, twenty-eight) times. “I think moving around is in my blood now because of it,” he says.
Mike says he identifies with a lot of places – “went to high school in Texas” – “father is from the Blue Ridge Mountains of Georgia” – “mother is from Southern California” – “been in San Francisco for awhile now, so I’ve definitely grown very Bay Area.”
Aside from The Times, Mike says that once in New York City he is eager to check out the local tattoo scene. “I have quite a few, which I have collected from various artists around the United States,” he says. “I can’t wait to move to New York to find some wonderful new artists.”
He starts next month.
