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EVENT DETAILS |
The Media Guru/Media Disruptor series is starting again in September. Note that there are no Power Points allowed! Its a question and answer session where the moderator asks 30 minutes of questions, and the audience the other 30 minutes. And it is off-the- record, so we expect you will hear information at the session and no where else!
This seasons fire-side- chat program, featuring the most accomplished and provocative executives in media, starts with Julie Hansen of Business Insider.
Julie Hansen joined Business Insider in 2008 as its COO and publisher and was named president in 2011. As employee #5 at Business Insider, she has led the organization through more than seven years of tremendous growth from its pre-revenue stage to a thriving commercial success with 100% audience growth and 90% revenue growth y-o-y in 2015.
In September 2015, BI was acquired by the leading German news publisher Axel Springer at a valuation of $442 million. (The German company already owned a portion of Business Insider from previous funding rounds and now purchased an additional 88% for $343 million, bringing its total ownership to 97%. The remaining 3% is owned by Jeff Bezos.)
According to Fortune magazine in a story about the deal, The acquisition ties both Business Insider co-founder Henry Blodget and his COO Julie Hansen into what Axel Springer described as a 10-year, equity-based retention deal. That means a certain amount of compensation is based on the two staying with the German media company to run the Business Insider unit for the next decade.
So Hansen remains at the helm (with the founder Henry Blodgett) post the acquisition. She oversees the revenue teams and manages all aspects of the companys operations outside of editorial, including finance, technology, marketing, legal, HR, and the events (conference) division.
At the time of the sale it was reported that BI had 72 million unique visitors a month, with 60% from mobile devices, and 40% from social networks. Hansen, talking about the importance of mobile customers way back in 2014 in this video interview, thoughtfully covers many of the strategic issues that continue to face BI and news sites in general.
Prior to Business Insider, Hansen launched CBSs NCAA.com web site, a major overhaul of the leagues consumer property.
She previously worked at Conde Nast, where she led the team that built and maintained 15 magazine-branded web sites ranging from The New Yorker to Golf Digest. She joined Conde Nast from Time Inc., where she worked for GolfDigest.coms main rival Golf.com.
Hansens digital roots predate the commercial web. While at Penguin Books, she created the companys digital division while still in her twenties, publishing a variety of software-based projects on CD-ROM and other formats and creating the companys first web site, penguin.com, in 1996.
Hansen has a BA in English from Yale University and an MBA from Columbia University.
Moderator Biography:
Ava Seave (MBA 82) is a Principal of Quantum Media, the New York City based consulting firm focused on marketing and strategic planning for media and entertainment companies. In addition to being a consultant, Seave is an Adjunct Professor at both Columbia Business School and Columbia Journalism School teaching classes about media and entertainment strategy and management and is a contributor to Forbes.com, writing about media businesses.
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