FBNY has learned that Noah Robischon, managing editor of the Gawker Media Network, will be leaving the company to take up as the new executive editor of fastcompany.com starting December 1. We hear from Gawker that his position there will not be filled (there is some speculation that with site leaders able to report more directly, less management is needed up top, particularly when the outlook is so glum!).

FBNY caught up with Robischon who told us that Fast Company had approached him two months ago and that one of the attractions was that the site "has a lot of unrealized potential, and I'm excited about giving it a fresh start." He hopes, among other things, to introduce "more daily news and original reporting" to the website. Fast Company head Robert Safian said in a memo to staff that "this high-profile addition is indicative of the ambition and commitment we have to fastcompany.com. And there is no better time, we believe, to invest in ramping up our efforts--just as others are pulling back." Fast Company does indeed appear to be on the upswing — Robischon pointed us to these stats which show that over the past year the magazine has increased both pages and dollars. Safian's full memo after the jump.

From: Robert Safian
Sent: Wed Nov 12 12:53:39 2008
Subject: New fastcompany.com executive editor

I am delighted to announce that Noah Robischon, formerly the managing editor of the Gawker Media network, will start as the new executive editor of fastcompany.com as of December 1. Noah will oversee all the digital activities of what we're now informally calling Fast Company Media, including fastcompany.tv, scobleizer.com and our other specialty properties. He will report directly to me.

Noah is a terrific talent with significant depth of experience. He started at Gawker as editor of gadget blog Gizmodo and doubled monthly traffic to 10 million page views in less than two years. He was then tapped to oversee all 12 of the Gawker sites, which include some 80 contributors. In less than two years, page views grew to 297 million a month (up from 150 million). He also launched the fastest-growing site in the network's history, io9, in January 2008; it is already at 7 million monthly pageviews.

But Noah is not just a digital guy. His experience extends across other
media as well. He has written for print publications from the now-defunct Brill's Content to Entertainment Weekly to The New York York Times, and worked as writer and story editor at TV outlets from VH-1 to New York 1. Noah is also an even-keeled, likeable guy who should fit in well with our team.

This high-profile addition is indicative of the ambition and commitment we have to fastcompany.com. And there is no better time, we believe, to invest in ramping up our efforts--just as others are pulling back. Our digital operations have a sound foundation in the fastcompany.com community (more than 140,000 members, some 1800 member blogs, etc). Now we will layer on the additional editorial resources that will take us to the next level. Noah is committed to leveraging the editorial resources of the magazine and emphasizing the agenda that has been so successful in print: from technology to sustainability, design to entertainment. Innovation in all its forms is
our hallmark. We are already at work assembling a team of influential
writers to contribute to the site daily, and in anticipation of Noah's
arrival have already begun iterative tweaks to the site's format, design and content. Page views are up sharply in recent weeks, and we expect progress to continue and accelerate when Noah is on board full time.

My deep thanks to all those on the Fast Company Media team who have
contributed to the site's surge over the past few weeks. I know these
efforts did not happen without sacrifice. I also know these contributions will continue in the weeks and months ahead as we all help fastcompany.com to realize its potential. I have already shared with Noah all of the suggestions that emerged from our team-brainstorming exercise, and he expressed great enthusiasm for the ideas and ambition embedded in your work.

I'm sure you'll all give Noah an appropriately robust Fast Company welcome when he arrives. December 1 will certainly be a banner day for all of us.

Thanks,

Bob