View Full Version : Danny Sullivan leaving SEW and SES
dutter
08-29-2006, 08:19 AM
Sullivan and Incisive Media have not been able to agree on a new contract for Sullivan, so he is leaving both the site and the conference series by the end of this year.
More... (http://www.webpronews.com/insiderreports/searchinsider/wpn-49-20060829DannySullivanLeavingSEWAndSES.html)
This is pretty enormous news.
A year or so ago I remember talking to Tim Weller (Incisive Media's CEO) and when I asked him about keeping Danny around he described it as a 'top priority' but indicated at the time that they were still working on that contract.
I guess Danny, having already seen the site/conference he started sold to Incisive for some ($40 million +)was looking to make sure he got a better share of the proceeds should history repeat itself.
It'll be interesting to see how Incisive spins this one and who they get to assume Danny's role.
Danny's a genuinely good guy with a TON of contacts. It'll be equally interesting to see where he ends up.
netmasters
08-29-2006, 12:10 PM
Sullivan and Incisive Media have not been able to agree on a new contract for Sullivan, so he is leaving both the site and the conference series by the end of this year.
More... (http://www.webpronews.com/insiderreports/searchinsider/wpn-49-20060829DannySullivanLeavingSEWAndSES.html)
Go for it, Danny! As much as I loved SES San Jose this year, working "from the goodness of your heart" can only last so long.
I have no doubt we'll be seeing some even bigger things from this extraordinary gentleman.
jeanner
08-29-2006, 12:46 PM
Danny is certainly the presence behind the SES conferences... his Evening Forum was my favorite. I think Incisive should have fought a little harder to keep him.
Christian_SEO
08-29-2006, 01:05 PM
First Tom and now Danny! Is the corporate world going insane...!!!???
aaron2005
08-29-2006, 01:18 PM
It will be interesting to see what Danny does next, I suspect it will be something bigger and better.
...and sometimes moving on is smart marketing EVEN IF you might not be aware of what the future may hold.
Papadoc
08-29-2006, 03:00 PM
When you gotta go, you gotta go. I respect what he has done and for his candor with the company in trying to negotiate and be up front.
I was however rather surprised at the "out of the goodness of my heart" and the, "Then I watched one company sell them to another without me having any formal capital stake in the sale" comments. It sounds a bit spiteful and vindictive at evidently not receiving something through the sale of the company that he thought he should be entitled to. With all due respect to Danny, he sold the company to Jupitermedia once so I am not sure why he thinks he should have had a capital stake in the company when it got sold this time or that he should have a stake in it with the new owners. If he wanted that and felt he was entitled to it, he should have negotiated that at the time of the sale and it would have saved lots of negotiation time and frustration.
He also let his contract be renewed as a part of the negotiation to sell the enterprise to Incisive, so I am curious as to why he refers to it as being out of the goodness of his heart. I am sure he has and will been receiving a healthy paycheck until he departs, just not one that he thought was worthy of his accomplishments. Fair enough. Everyone is entitled to an opinion of their own worth, right or wrong.
On the flip side, if Incisive felt this was a problem and that he was that important to the company, they would have worked something out. Nobody can say whether any offer they might have made was poor, decent, or generous, but ultimately there was no meeting of the minds. But let's be real. Nobody employee is indespensible though they often think they are. When that happens, it's often time to regroup. If Danny was trying to back them into a corner and demand a chunk of what they just bought as a part of his retainer, they might have decided to just let the strings be cut. Alternatively, he might have been very reasonable in his demands, but they might also have decided it was time put a new face on the company.
I am sure that Danny will do just fine. If he didn't come out set for life back in 1997, he will land on his feet this time too and his name will be synonymous with search engine research long enough for him to get his feet off the ground one more time and hire a bunch of gurus to work with him. Considering the "slim chance" comments, I hope there isn't there isn't any spitefulness here on either side. When a company founder looks back at his baby, even being run by someone else, it can be a hard thing. It makes it worse of there is any hard feelings between the founder and the new owners.
MatthewP
08-29-2006, 03:23 PM
I've often wondered why Danny didn't break away from Jupitermedia sooner. I always felt he would have profited heavily from starting over. Even if he signed a non-compete lawyers could've fought it out in court and he, with his extensive contacts, could have reinvented SES in the mean time.
Jupitermedia sold SEW and SES to Incisive Media a little over a year ago for 43 million(-ish).
And Danny has no non-compete.
Just in the way of clarification.
keywordguy
08-29-2006, 04:15 PM
I've never been to any of the workshops, but have will be looking to see what Danny offers next on his own or part of another organization.
I'm wondering how all of this will affect the soundness of advice and content on the website now.
Ohh Ok? Who is Danny Sullivan?
SEOforGoogle
08-29-2006, 10:00 PM
Danny Sullivan will be greatly missed - he was a stable and constant source for the industry. I got to meet him twice and he always treated everyone with the same amount of respect whether it was Bruce Clay, or a no-name like me.
Thanks Danny, and Good Luck!
Paul
crankydave
08-30-2006, 09:01 AM
My thoughts run similiar to those of Papadoc. Nice post.
Personally, I see this as "posturing" at this point. We'll see what happens.
Dave
incrediblehelp
08-30-2006, 11:23 AM
To be honest this is very similar to any SEO that has worked at or for a large corporation. I have worked for a few and the funny thing is, once they see the benefits and of your work after a couple of years your own existence at the company soon seem to be "replicable" or not worth as much. Incisive probably thinks that the SES is now grown into its own identity so why pay this guy anymore. So funny. Same goes when you start kicking ass for a client or for the company you work for. After some time the thoughts of "not needing" you any longer creeps into big wigs heads. Fortunately most don't act on these thoughts. Doing so would greatly cost your company/client in the long run and I think this move by Incisive will greatly cost SES and SEW.
Good thing is for Danny (and any other SEO that gets the boot) they can go onto bigger and greater things. I sure Danny is looking at this as great opportunity and probably thinking, "oh well your loss IM".
khurramali
09-01-2006, 01:02 AM
all good things must end.
I agree with incredible help in his observation that this thing happens everywhere in the corporate culture.
You give your best years to a company and when you are down and out, or in trouble, or you cannot work like you used to, or you have health problems, they lay you off and hire young people. Who can work long hours and are cheaper also.
incrediblehelp
09-26-2006, 04:03 PM
Well Danny leaving SES and SEW makes more sense now. Found this via TW:
Incisive Media Sells Out (http://www.threadwatch.org/node/9013)
Via Joseph Morin (http://equitymind.blogspot.com/2006/09/incisive-media-acquired-by-apax.html), Incisive Media, which bought Search Engine Watch and Search Engine Strategies from JupiterMedia, recently sold out for $375 million to Apex Partners, a private equity investment firm.