Red Herring to start Asian edition
Neeraj Saxena
LEADING technology publication of the US, Red Herring, is set to spread its tentacles world-wide with a regional Asian edition to be based in Hong Kong. It is particularly gung ho on having an editorial presence in India as it sees Indian technology sector as a strong focal point for its readership.
Red Herring editor Jason Pontin told economictimes.com that Red Herring Communication, the holding company, was in talks with four media companies across Asia for signing a broad-ranging deal within next three to eight weeks.
This included an Indian media house and the deal could involve an equity and distribution partnership with the company, Pontin said.
Through this deal, Red Herring, which over the past few months had restructured its operations in the wake of the dotcom doom, would seek to establish its presence across many more world markets other than just the US.
New editions were sought to be opened in Hong Kong, middle-east Asia, London and Latin America, besides adding another US edition, Pontin said.
"After the tie-up, we will thrash out our final international strategy. We are very keen to tap the readership interest that exists for Red Herring in this part of the world, particularly all Indian metros, Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Singapore, Tokyo, may be Australia and Taipei," he said.
An international presence, Pontin said, would mean that the editorial content across all editions would be international in nature, whereas up to 80 per cent advertising support would come from the local markets.
Red Herring also has its own web and TV presence which, Pontin said, had a sizeable audience in the Indian sub-continent.
The magazine presently has just one edition that comes out from San Francisco and sells 3.5 million copies world-wide. However, it already has offices in New York and London.
Post dotcom doom, it turned bi-weekly, reoriented its focus to include a lotmore content about biotech, management, technology and business in general, instead of just the internet businesses. It has also handed over pink slips to an estimated 50 to 60 employees, first in October and then in December.
Pontin denied the charge often levelled by the failed dot commers that venture capitalists and media were cogs in the wheel and that they formed part of and fed the ecosystem that led to sky-high valuations and the subsequent crash.
Nevertheless, the dotcom doom, he said, had taught many an invaluable lessons to everybody around the world.
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