Roben Farzad of Full Disclosure interviewed longtime tech reporter Kara Swisher about her career at The Wall Street Journal and Recode.
Swisher and tech journalist Walt Mossberg led a technology conference All Things Digital at the Journal before leaving in January 2014 to start tech news site Recode.
“We were there for several years under Murdoch’s ownership. We were there longer than you think,” said Swisher. “We just sort of wanted to do something on our own. We weren’t big enough for them to care. We made a lot of money for reporters.”
Swisher noted that Rupert Murdoch, which bought The Journal in 2007 when he acquired parent company Dow Jones & Co., seemed more interested in investing in other media opportunities such as MySpace and The Daily.
Swisher and Mossberg began seeking ways to expand All Things Digital into other lines such as All Things Financial and All Thing Health.
“We had a homegrown hit, and they just weren’t interested in investing in it,” said Swisher. “…So we went out and looked for other funding and came back to them and gave them right of first refusal. People leave things all the time. They had their own game.”
To listen, go here.
