Breaking News: Mike Kisseberth Named CEO of PC World; Will He Last Longer Than Crawford?

Posted: September 14, 2007 by Jeremy Greenfield Filed under: IDG Permalink

First, the news:

Mike Kisseberth is the new CEO of IDG’s PC World and Macworld, according to an announcement late Friday afternoon (9/14).  The position had been filled by interim CEO and CEO of IDG, Bob Carrigan, since the departure of Colin Crawford, who returned to his previous position running interactive sales for corporate.  Crawford had stepped down after Harry McCracken, editor of PC World, was reinstated after resigning the previous week over an editorial disagreement with Crawford. 

Now, the back story:

I am not in the office.  I’m now blogging from Grandma’s.  I’m here for a holiday dinner.  (Why I was checking my email after work on a Friday while at a family event is an issue for my analyst.)  I couldn’t resist writing a bit about this since it is related to the McCracken/Crawford story that I followed pretty closely when it broke, last May.

And, truth be told, I wanted to get the story up online as fast as possible.  (It’s a sad reality, but a reality nonetheless, that the Internet puts huge pressures on journalists to get the story out before anyone else.  I’m not immune.) 

And finally, the commentary:

I don’t know much about Kisseberth, but I’ll try to talk with him next week for a more in depth story in min’s b2b.  For now: he most recently comes from CNet, where he was senior VP of corporate sales and operations.  According to the press release, “during his tenure at the interactive media company, revenue among corporate accounts increased more than threefold.”

Kisseberth will have weird shoes to fill.  Crawford was only CEO for six weeks before stepping down.  Aside from the initial gaffe, Crawford (and Carrigan, McCracken, and Pat McGovern) handled the situation quite well and all came out smelling relatively good.  There was a momentary lapse of confidence in the editorial integrity of the publication initially, followed by swell of good feelings at the outcome.

So what sort of environment is Kisseberth walking into?  One, I imagine, in which the editors rule the roost.  But, in a category with incredibly attentive readers–they followed the McCracken/Crawford story religiously, making it into a national media issue, breifly–that might be a good thing.

From Grandma’s house, signing off.