Jason Hirschhorn - H 2015
NewscomLongtime media executive Jason Hirschhorn is planning a short break from his online email newsletter business, REDEF, to undergo heart surgery.
The former MTV and Myspace executive revealed in his Monday morning MediaREDEF newsletter that he has heart disease and will cease publication of his daily media and tech newsletter for the next week to recover from heart surgery that he is undergoing on Monday.
“Being healthy first means a better product,” he wrote in the newsletter. “If I’m being honest, I do REDEF for myself. It’s a passion and a labor of love. I get pleasure in sharing it with you.”
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Hirschhorn, who spent six years as chief digital officer at MTV, has been sending his daily MediaREDEF emails for eight years and has amassed a high-profile group of readers. In 2014 he formalized the newsletters, which feature a range of interesting and insightful stories from across the web, with the launch of REDEF with $2.25 million in seed funding from Bloomberg Beta, The Chernin Group, Jeffrey Katzenberg, Mark Cuban and James Murdoch, among others. He has since grown the business into several new verticals, including fashion and sports, and is currently testing an app.
Although Hirschhorn is taking a step back from the business, he says the website, REDEF.com, and app will continue to be updated each day and subject newsletters for sports, fashion and music will continue to operate normally.
“Starting tomorrow and for a few weeks, I’m no longer in the driver, just a passenger,” he wrote. “This isn’t a natural thing. I’m having visions of John Hurt in Alien. But medical technology is amazing. The road ahead is long but worth it.”
Several people wished Hirschhorn well on Twitter.
@JasonHirschhorn @MediaREDEF speedy recovery. We’re all thinking about you.
— dick costolo (@dickc) August 17, 2015
@JasonHirschhorn get better fast!
— Gavin Purcell (@gavinpurcell) August 17, 2015
Thinking of you my friend and sending great thoughts… @jasonhirschhorn.
— Courtney W. Holt (@mootron) August 17, 2015
