Loïc Le Meur

Infobox Person
name = Loïc Le Meur


caption = Loïc Le Meur at the "LeWeb3" conference in 2006
birth_date = birth date and age|1972|7|14
birth_place = France
other_names =
known_for =
occupation = Serial entrepreneur, Blogger

Loïc Le Meur (born July 14, 1972) is a French serial 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. [ [http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1759,1623723,00.asp July 14, 2004 eWeek - Six Apart Hires New CEO, Nets European Bloggers] ] 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. [ [http://www.sarkozy.fr/video/index.php?intChannelId=13 Nicolas Sarkozy's Campaign Team] ] [ [http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/news/archives/2007/01/15/for_frances_bloggers_cest_la_guerre.html January 15, 2007, Guardian Unlimited - For France's bloggers, c'est la guerre] ]

Career

In 1996, Loïc Le Meur founded his first company, interactive agency B2L, which was sold to advertising agency BBDO in 1999 for ca. 3 million USD.

In parallel he also founded RapidSite France and made it the leading web hosting company for small businesses in France. [ [http://www.01net.com/editorial/273879/cinq-ans-apres.../loic-le-meur-si-j-avais-du-temps-je-ferais-un-parti-politique-completement-base-sur-les-blogs-/ April 15, 2005 01.net - Interview with Loïc Le Meur] ] In 1999, he sold RapidSite to France Télécom where it became part of Wanadoo. [ [http://www.internetnews.com/bus-news/article.php/265561 December 22, 1999 internetnews.com - France Telecom Acquires RapidSite France] ]

In 2000, he founded application service provider Tekora and had to fire sell the company to French software company Access-Commerce in 2002 after the burn out of 6 million USD in 24 months and total revenues of 150.000 USD. Fact|date=March 2007

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. [ [http://www.journaldunet.com/0311/031125ublog.shtml November 25, 2003 Le Journal du Net - Ublog, l'aventure blog de Loïc Le Meur] ] He then grew Ublog and merged the company with Six Apart where he became Executive Vice President in 2004. [ [http://www.internetnews.com/bus-news/article.php/3381121 July 15, 2004 internetnews.com - Six Apart Blogs in Europe] ] 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". [ [http://www.loiclemeur.com/english/2007/03/after_six_apart.html March 27, 2007 Loic Le Meur Weblog - After Six Apart, what should I do?] ]

In 2006, Le Meur joined the RSS Advisory Board, the group responsible for the RSS 2.0 specification.

Blogging

Le Meur's personal weblog has been one of the most widely read blogs in France. He is also well-known as the organizer of the "LesBlogs" weblog conferences in Paris, France (later renamed to "LeWeb"). [ [http://www.leweb3.com/ LeWeb3 conference website] ] In 2004, he became part of the team behind the official World Economic Forum Weblog. [ [http://www.forumblog.org/blog/ Forumblog.org] ]

In December 2005, he conducted the first podcast interview with a major French politician, Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy. [Le Meur, Loïc. " [http://www.loiclemeur.com/france/2005/12/le_premier_podc.html Nicolas Sarkozy podcasté pour la première fois] ". 22 December 2005.] While "AgoraVox", a French citizen journalism site, panned the interview as "infotainment", claiming Le Meur had asked "softball questions" and criticized the podcast interview as free publicity for Sarkozy, [AgoraVox. " [http://www.agoravox.fr/article.php3?id_article=5563/ Sarkozy sur mon iPod ? Non merci !] " 24 December 2005] Le Meur responded that he did not want to be confrontational, and the event was seen as an effort to stem Sarkozy's decline in popularity among younger voters. [Matlack, Carol. " [http://www.businessweek.com/bwdaily/dnflash/dec2005/nf20051227_3765_db039.htm The Podcast Shaking Up French Politics] ". "BusinessWeek", December 27, 2005.] Le Meur then went on interviewing several other politicians in subsequent podcasts, including Dominique Strauss-Kahn and François Bayrou. He announced his support for Sarkozy in the 2007 presidential election in September 2006. [Le Meur, Loïc. " [http://www.loiclemeur.com/france/2006/09/je_voterai_pour.html Je voterai pour Niclas Sarkozy] ". 10 September 2006.] Both Bayrou and Sarkozy spoke at internet conference "LeWeb3" in Paris organized by Le Meur in December 2006, as did Israeli politician Shimon Peres. [Schenker, Jennifer L. " [http://www.redherring.com/Article.aspx?a=20201&hed=Politicians+Woo+Internet+Crowd+In+Paris Politicians Woo Internet Crowd In Paris] ". "Red Herring", December 12, 2006.] He was invited by the french president Nicolas Sarkozy to come with him to the White House during his first official visit in United States in November 2007.

Controversies

Loïc Le Meur did not create the Ublog service (then sold to Six Apart) as often mentioned. The Ublog service and technology was acquired from its founder and lead developer Stéphane Le Solliec and then incorporated by Le Meur.

The sale of Rapidsite (actually originated, funded and managed by his wife -Geraldine Fleurence) for 15 million USD was his only good move in the net age until now.

Bibliography

* "Blogs pour les pros" by Loïc Le Meur and Laurence Beauvais, Dunod ISBN 2100493957, November 2005
* "La révolution podcast" by Loïc Le Meur and Laurence Beauvais, Dunod ISBN 2100500597, September 2006.

References

External links

*Le Meur's personal blog [http://www.loiclemeur.com/ in English] and [http://www.loiclemeur.com/france/ in French]
* [http://www.sixapart.com/ Six Apart]
* [http://www.linkedin.com/in/loiclemeur Loic Le Meur] has a professional profile on the web.
* [http://uk.intruders.tv/Internet-World-2007-Interview-with-Loic-Le-Meur_a14.html Interview with Loic Le Meur] video
* [http://atelier-us.com/editorials/loic,le,meur,introduces,seesmic,l,ateliers,readers-287-.html Interview with Loic Le Meur about his new company Seesmic] video