GigaOmni Media CEO Om Malik recuperating from heart attack, company says

GigaOmni Media founder and CEO Om Malik, 41, is recuperating from a heart attack suffered Dec. 28, the company said in a blog post.

"It's been a tough week," said Paul Walborsky, the company's COO, who came on board in August to run non-editorial operations for the online network.

Malik, a former columnist for Business 2.0 and Red Herring magazines, is editor-in-chief over five fast-growing blogs focused on business and tech news.

"People are writing. We have a full staff to keep traffic growing, keep people reading," said Walborsky, who added that he was "running the day-to-day operations of the company.

The company's traffic is growing at a 10% a month clip, he said, adding that the company has "enough capital to execute on (its) business plan."

The GigaOmni Media web site says the company serves 1.5 million unique monthly visitors. 

Malik, whom this editor worked with for one year at Forbes.com, is known for his prodigious output of stories, which we in the Silicon Valley bureau of that online magazine occasionally marveled at. 

His blogging output over the past year, which ended in GigaOmni Media pulling down a $1 million-plus second funding round in November, had helped build a large and loyal following. Malik's post about his health generated over 800 comments on the gigaom.com Web site.

Malik, who so loves cigars that he has a small stogie as part of his online icon, "has to quit smoking and get his health better," said Walborsky, with a nod to tough love.

Malik also wrote a book, called Broadbandits- Inside the $750 billion Telecom Heist", that took a sharp look of the transfer of wealth from investors to startup executives during the telecom service provider heyday of the late 1990s.

Here is the full statement from the GigaOM Web site:

A Heart-to-Heart with GigaOM Readers

Om Malik, Thursday, January 3, 2008 at 12:35 PM PT Comments (838)

Happy New Year. As you may have noticed, my byline hasn’t been up on the site for a few days. That’s because the holidays weren’t exactly my most jolly.

I had a heart attack on Dec. 28. I was able to walk into the hospital for treatment that night and have been recovering here ever since. With the support of my family and my team, I am on the road to a full recovery. I am going to be OK...

Now living a healthier life isn’t just one of my New Year’s resolutions, it’s doctor’s orders. Friends and family have purged my apartment of smokes, scotch and all my favorite fatty foods — I am even going to be drinking decaf. I won’t be refashioning my avatar’s stogie with a celery stick, but I will be taking better care of my health.

I hope you do, too.

Best wishes, Om

***** 

We at Vator.tv wish Om Malik, an innovator in online business news, a speedy and full recovery.