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Owen Thomas (writer)

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Owen Thomas
Photo of Owen Thomas by Mark Andrew Boyer
Born (1972-03-30) March 30, 1972 (age 52)
NationalityAmerican
Occupation(s)Blogger, journalist, entrepreneur

Owen Thomas (born March 30, 1972) is an American blogger, journalist, and entrepreneur who serves as managing editor of the San Francisco Business Times.[1]

He was the founding executive editor of The Daily Dot[2] and former executive editor of VentureBeat.[3] He was the managing editor of Valleywag, a Gawker Media gossip and news blog about Silicon Valley personalities that bills itself as a "tech gossip rag".[4]

Career

Thomas graduated from Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology.[5] He is a 1994 graduate of the University of Chicago.[6] He first worked at Suck.com, and later at the former technology magazine Business 2.0.[7]

He was managing editor of the Silicon Valley gossip website Valleywag, before leaving to run NBC's local site for the San Francisco Bay Area.[8]

Thomas does some on-screen commentary in the film Revenge of the Electric Car.[9]

In 2013, Thomas was named editor-in-chief of ReadWrite.[10] He joined the San Francisco Chronicle as business editor in 2016,[11] leaving in 2021 to become a senior editor at the tech news site Protocol.[1]

Valleywag

Thomas replaced Nick Denton as the managing editor of Valleywag on July 6, 2007.[7] Valleywag, a two-man operation, was written mostly by Thomas, with help from its former editor, Nick Douglas.[12]

In 2007, Thomas outed Peter Thiel as gay while Thiel was in Saudi Arabia on business in Valleywag. In response, Thiel covertly funded lawsuits by third parties against Gawker Media, Valleywag's parent. Thiel's role came to light in the aftermath of the Bollea v. Gawker verdict, which awarded Bollea, known professionally as Hulk Hogan, $140 million after Gawker published a sex tape of him. Thomas contends that Thiel's sexuality was already "known to a wide circle", so his coverage did not constitute an outing.[13]

References

  1. ^ a b Roush, Chris (2023-09-18). "SF Business Times hires Thomas as managing editor". Talking Biz News. Retrieved 2023-09-25.
  2. ^ "Daily Dot Masthead". The Daily Dot. Retrieved 2012-02-06.
  3. ^ "Back on the beat: Owen Thomas joins VentureBeat". 24 March 2010. Retrieved 2010-11-04.
  4. ^ "How Valleywag Trumps Gawker -- And Enlivens Silicon Valley". CBS. 2008-04-09. Retrieved 2008-10-04.
  5. ^ Davis, Noah (December 11, 2014). "WHAT MAKES YOU SO SMART, WEB EDITOR?". Pacific Standard. Retrieved August 20, 2022.
  6. ^ "Spoke bio entry: Owen Thomas". Retrieved 2015-03-01.
  7. ^ a b Guynn, Jessica; Lee, Ellen (2007-07-06). "Tech Chronicles". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved 2008-10-04.
  8. ^ "Owen Thomas Leaving Valleywag For NBC". Silicon Valley Insider. Retrieved 2009-06-04.
  9. ^ "Revenge of the Electric Car: First Watch Review". 19 October 2011.
  10. ^ "Owen Thomas Joins ReadWrite as Editor-in-Chief, Says He Will Take the Site 'Back to Our Roots'". 3 April 2013.
  11. ^ David R. Baker (2016-03-04). "Owen Thomas named Chronicle's business editor". SFGate. Retrieved 2016-05-26.
  12. ^ Harris, Wil (2007-08-03). "Tech rags forced to face unpalatable facts". The Inquirer. Archived from the original on October 14, 2007. Retrieved 2008-10-04.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  13. ^ Andrew Ross Sorkin (2016-05-25). "Dealbook: Peter Thiel, Tech Billionaire, Reveals Secret War With Gawker". The New York Times. Retrieved 2016-05-26.
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