I have the pleasure of confirming the rumors: Heather Harde, currently the SVP of Mergers and Acquisitions at Fox Interactive Media, will start her new job as the CEO of the TechCrunch Network (and my boss) by the end of the month. This isn’t the way I hoped to announce this news, but Om Malik broke the story after an internal Fox email got out.
It was tough to talk Heather into leaving Fox, where she’s been for the last ten years. In that time she’s had a combination of operating and corporate development roles. Most recently, she was part of the founding executive team of Fox Interactive Media. At FIM she ran the mergers and acquisitions team, which was responsible for eight acquisitions, totaling $1.3 billion, and two equity investment deals. Prior to Fox, Heather was at business school at Harvard.
There is a lot for her to do. She will run every aspect of our business other than editorial, which I’ll be focusing on for now. TechCrunch has grown faster than I could manage over the last couple of years. Heather’s job will be to leverage the opportunities that we have sometimes let slip by, and to manage our organic and acquisition growth going forward.
If you can’t tell, I’m pretty excited to have her on board. More announcements are coming soon.
Photo credit: Scott Beale/Laughing Squid
Congrats Michael on your growth and welcome Heather. The natives are not that bad as long as you keep feeding them startup stories to feast on…
congrats mike. i think this is great move.
Michael,
Congrats on a great hire!
Lo
WOW! Congrats to all, TechCrunch will be around for the long hall, hopefully my network and blogs can have the same success at the TechCrunch network.
Any advice for an East Coast company to survive?
Wayne
Congrats Heather and Mike! This world of blogging can be fun on the good days and can be a real pain in the you know what on other days. But that’s like anything else.
Nothing like a breaking story on the weekend!
Rex
Mike, congrats…. you are a smart guy and a move such as this shows that you have big plans for TechCrunch. I’m quite sure a round of financing will follow:)
Just don’t lose focus of what TechCrunch has become – a daily radar for hundreds of thousands of readers looking for great insights to the start up world.
Cheers,
Alejandro
A double catch
Acquisitions eh? Interesting …
Congrats Mike and Heather.
And, I’m psuedo famous now (if you click on the photo).
Congratulations. to both of you.
Cheers! To good days ahead.
Congratulations … at the rate TC and the Crunchnetwork has been growing I’m surprised you didn’t require her services *sooner*.
[or did you?
]
t @ dji
Congrats, hope everything will work out great.
goitexpert.com – xp-erienced it source
Thanks very much everyone.
This is a great step in further validating the “blogs as a business” model. TechCrunch is much more than “a blog” now, as its grown to a full-fledge news network. It’s fun to watch the expansion and success. It looks like you have hired as well as you report. Good stuff.
I love having cleaned up after me too
(jk)
Congratulations to both of you. I’m sure Miss(es?) Harde has found a great employer.
“[...] editorial, which I’ll be focusing on for now.”
So either you’ll get more sleep or we can expect more stories
Just don’t give up that part (please)!
(Official) congratulations to the two of you
.
Hey congratulations guys – this is awesome news
Congratulations, TC will truly thrive
I congratulate both of you.
Congratulations Mike. Your growth is inspiring too.
Just could not let that interesting tidbit slip by. Please expand on the opportunities that did slip by and the new acquisitions being considered.
This time the shoe is on the other foot
Congrats Mike. Good luck for the future…
The first step to becoming a VC? or the first step for getting some VC?
I can hear the lawyers gossiping right now!
let’s be original and congratulate both of you !
Congrats. Nice to see you guys growing
The suggested collaboration even makes more sense now.
Ronnen
Congrats to both of you. Keep up the good work.
Kenny Lee
Mike – You wrote “It was tough to talk Heather out of leaving Fox.” Huh????
If that’s what you were trying to do, you didn’t accomplish it. But I suspect that you meant to write either “into” instead of “out of”, or less likely “wasn’t”instead of “was.”
Wow, big day for the blog media business! This is another proof that this media is as legitimate as the leading print publications. Congrats on the move and all the best.
Well done.
I know realise their is big money in Blog networks if you can afford to recruit big pay staff.
Well Done Mike. Just don’t lose focus of the reason why this blog started and has become popular . The minute you lose focus your large audience will desert you in a blink of an eye
———————-
http://www.gushia.com
Congrats Mike and Heather. I predict this to be a start of the process of acquiring the Techcrunch Network. Fox Media being the likely buying.
Next news will be: “Techcrunch acquired by Fox Interactive (owners of MySpace) !” Guys, watch this space…
Great news! Wish you guys good luck..
Btw.. I totally agree with commenter Jason (#31). Don’t f’kit up guys.
Wow. A one man army no more.
Early morning congrats from the east coast.
Mike – Good work
Update your about page
” Acquisitions “. I would like to know what that is all about Mike. ANyways Good move. Bests to all of you.
Congratulation… Not everyone will get this golden chance of hiring their boss
Very exciting. Want to send some of her talent my way to MacUpdate.com?
Enjoy your growth!
Congrats. It makes me ask though: who owns TechCrunch? Could you give us a list of the major investors or is it just you?
This validates that content, from whichever direction it’s coming, is indeed king (and queen).
Wildly cool. We’re already looking forward to talking about this in May.
Michael,
Congrats. Smart move separating business from editorial.
Great move Mike, and fantastic choice
Congrats Mike & welcome Heather! Mike, now you can fulfill your dream of competing with CNet! This rise & expansion does give inspiration & can potentially open opportunities for many bloggers.
~Bloggin’ Is A Lifestyle~
“Congrats. Smart move separating business from editorial.”
I concur with Adam. Congratulations!!!
Does this mean TechCrunch will be buying MySpace?
So when is the IPO?
I’ve been waiting for something like this to happen.
Brilliant decision.
Congratulations to Mike, Heather, and the entire TC Network!