Alex Wolfe is leaving UBM Tech. Just heard it from two sources (neither of them Alex). Don't know where he's going, but it is a major coup for whoever grabs him.
Alex has been, for a long time, a stalwart of electronics journalism. He broke the story about the Intel Floating Point error. He's been edior in chief of Information Week, Design News, IEEE Spectrum. My first trip to Manhattan was specifically to meet with him, face to face, with a client because the client considered him the most important editor to meet. That's why he's risen as high as he has in the UBM organization and why his loss to them is going to be pretty devastating.
The word is everyone on UBM Tech is sending out resumes if they aren't getting offers, If you look at the EETimes masthead you see 44 editorial positions. One (executive editor held by George Leopold) was eliminated in January. Both positions for EBN are now gone (Wolfe and Brian Fuller), six are duplicative (they hold down other positions), and I count 11 that are on contract and have other duties outside of UBM. That means 24 of the 44 are staff members, dedicated to developing and managing content. They're good people. How long can they last?
The UBM decision to merge media with events is not a bad idea. It is possibly a good idea. But you can't make anything work unless you have people to do the work.