Loïc Le Meur
Loïc Le Meur | |
|---|---|
 Loïc Le Meur at the LeWeb3 conference in 2006 | |
| Born | July 14, 1972 France |
| Occupation(s) | Entrepreneur, blogger |
Loïc Le Meur (born July 14, 1972) is a French entrepreneur and blogger. He served as Executive Vice President EMEA at software company Six Apart after merging French blogging company Ublog with Six Apart in July 2004.[1] In late 2006 Le Meur became a public backer of French presidential candidate Nicolas Sarkozy and joined Sarkozy's campaign team as an advisor on Internet-related topics.[2][3]
Career
In 1996, Loïc Le Meur founded his first company, interactive agency B2L.[citation needed]
He also founded RapidSite France with his wife [4] and made it the leading web hosting company for small businesses in France.[5] In 1999, he sold RapidSite to France Télécom where it became part of Wanadoo.[6]
In 2000, he founded application service provider Tekora. [citation needed]
In 2003, he got involved with French weblog hosting company Ublog which he purchased from its founder, fellow Breton Stéphane Le Solliec in October 2003.[7] He then grew Ublog and merged the company with Six Apart where he became Executive Vice President in 2004.[8] He held his role as EVP EMEA until March 2007 when he handed his job over to long-time business partner Olivier Creiche. Le Meur remains Honorary Chair of Six Apart Europe.[9]
Blogging & LeWeb
Le Meur's personal weblog has been one of the most widely read blogs in France[citation needed]. In 2004, he became part of the team behind the official World Economic Forum Weblog.[10]
Since 2004, Loïc Le Meur is the organizer of a conference focused on blogging and web world. In December 2006, he managed to get Shimon Peres, Nicolas Sarkozy, and French politician Francois Bayrou on stage at LeWeb '03.[11] Since this edition, LeWeb becomes more popular every year. More than 2,600 people from 60 different countries came in 2010[12].
Seesmic
In 2007 he moved to San Francisco, to launch a new startup named Seesmic.[13]
Seesmic was initially focused on the creation of an online community of video bloggers. The 2008 economic crisis sped up Seesmic's mutation into a social media client company. In January 2010, Seesmic acquired Ping.fm [14] and gave its users the possibility to update simultaneously more than 50 different social media statuses. In February 2011, Seesmic received funding from Salesforce.com and Softbank, bringing total funding to $16 million[15].
Bibliography
- Blogs pour les pros by Loïc Le Meur and Laurence Beauvais, Dunod ISBN 2-10-049395-7, November 2005
- La révolution podcast by Loïc Le Meur and Laurence Beauvais, Dunod ISBN 2-10-050059-7, September 2006.
References
- ^ July 14, 2004 eWeek - Six Apart Hires New CEO, Nets European Bloggers
- ^ Nicolas Sarkozy's Campaign Team
- ^ January 15, 2007, Guardian Unlimited - For France's bloggers, c'est la guerre
- ^ http://www.idf.net/articles/g-fleurence.html
- ^ April 15, 2005 01.net - Interview with Loïc Le Meur
- ^ December 22, 1999 internetnews.com - France Telecom Acquires RapidSite France
- ^ November 25, 2003 Le Journal du Net - Ublog, l'aventure blog de Loïc Le Meur
- ^ July 15, 2004 internetnews.com - Six Apart Blogs in Europe
- ^ March 27, 2007 Loic Le Meur Weblog - After Six Apart, what should I do?
- ^ Forumblog.org
- ^ http://loiclemeur.com/english/2006/12/the_end_of_blog.html
- ^ http://2010.leweb.net/community/2010/participants-leweb10
- ^ http://techcrunch.com/2007/06/13/loic-le-meur-moves-to-silicon-valley-to-start-video-content-company/
- ^ Seesmic acquires Ping.fm
- ^ http://kara.allthingsd.com/20110201/seesmic-raises-from-4-million-in-funding-salesforce/
External links
- Le Meur's personal blog in English and in French
- Interview with Loic Le Meur video
- Interview with Loic Le Meur about his new company Seesmic video