Web search expert Danny Sullivan blogs that he is leaving Search Engine Watch. Sullivan was the founder of Search Engine Watch. He sold the site in 1997 to Mecklermedia, which later became Internet.com and then Jupitermeda. Jupitermedia has since sold the site to Incisive Media.
Back in 1997, I sold Search Engine Watch to what became Jupitermedia. That company later started the Search Engine Strategies conference series. I had a long and prosperous association with both of those properties (USA Today recently recounted the tale here). I renegotiated my contract to provide services for both of them to Jupitermedia several times without any major issues.
Last year, Jupitermedia sold the site and the series to Incisive Media. I wasn't unhappy with the sale and chose to let my contract be extended through the end of 2006 as part of it.
I was concerned about moving forward with Incisive, however. I'm far from the only reason behind the success of SEW and SES, but I've played a major role. I helped build both of those assets. Then I watched one company sell them to another without me having any formal capital stake in the sale. That left me wary of history repeating itself. I wasn't going to help this new company grow the business out of the sheer kindness of my heart.
I explained these reservations at the very beginning of my relationship with Incisive, that I needed some long-term incentive for helping them continue to grow and strengthen the site and conferences. After over a year of talks, that's failed to materialize. As a result, I'm departing.
You can keep up with Danny Sullivan on his personal blog called Daggle, which he has been running since early 2005. Sullivan also has a great post here about his decade of writing about search engines.
