Arik Hesseldahl

Former Senior Editor, Enterprise

Arik Hesseldahl has been covering technology since 1996, most recently for AllThingsD.com. He began his career with a weekly column devoted to a new-fangled thing called the Internet for The Idaho State Journal, where he was a business reporter at the time.

From 2005 to 2010. he was senior technology writer at Bloomberg Businessweek and wrote the online column and companion blog called “Byte Of the Apple,” devoted to all things Apple, for Businessweek.com

From 2000 to 2005, Arik was senior editor and technology columnist at Forbes.com.

Arik is a graduate of Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism and of the University of Oregon. He lives in New York City.

Ethics Statement

Here is a statement of my ethics and coverage policies. It is more than most of you want to know, but, in the age of suspicion of the media, I am laying it all out.

First and foremost, I don’t own any tech stocks directly, and never have.

However, I do own shares in two companies. First, a small number of shares in the McGraw-Hill Companies, which I acquired while I was employed there during the years the the company owned BusinessWeek magazine. I also own a single-digit number of shares in Travelzoo, an Internet travel company, dating back to a 1998 publicity stunt when its founders gave away shares (and which I should probably sell).

I also have money in two 401K plans, from my time as a Bloomberg employee and the other the years when I was employed at McGraw-Hill. (And one of these days I’ll get around to rolling them over into one place.) I also have an IRA with Fidelity, which I opened in 1999.

In each case, the money in these accounts are invested in mutual funds, none of them technology-focused. As is the case with any mutual fund investor, I have no role whatsoever in making the day-to-day decisions around the buying and selling in any security held by these funds. As a result, there may be times when the managers of these funds decide to acquire or sell positions in companies I cover, although I have no knowledge of this or control over it.

And, as is also the case with any mutual fund investor, I do from time to time adjust how the money in these funds are allocated at my own discretion, with one clear caveat that I avoid technology-specific funds in all cases.

Additionally, I accept no gifts, travel or speaking engagements from the companies I cover, nor do I work for them in any consulting capacity.

Recode is owned wholly by Vox Media, a company with an audience of 170 million worldwide. It has eight distinct media brands: The Verge (Technology and Culture), Vox.com (News), SB Nation (Sports), Polygon (Gaming), Eater (Food and Nightlife), Racked (Shopping, Beauty and Fashion), Curbed (Real Estate and Home), as well as Recode (Tech Business).

Vox Media has a number of investors, including, but not limited to, Comcast Ventures and NBCUniversal, both of which are owned by Comcast Corporation.

My posts have total editorial independence from these investors, even when they touch on products and services these companies produce, compete with, or invest in. The same goes for all content on Recode and at our conferences. No one in this group has influence on or access to the posts we publish. We will also add a direct link to this disclosure when we write directly about the companies.