Andrew Paulson

Andrew Paulson

Andrew Paulson
Born 1958
New Haven, Connecticut
Citizenship American
Occupation SUP Fabrik, Chairman of the Board of Directors

Andrew Paulson (born 1958, New Haven, Connecticut) is an American entrepreneur working in Russia. He is the son of noted American professor Ronald Paulson.

During his early years he pursued oncology and neurophysiology research at Johns Hopkins Hospital, Yale University and at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute and he founded The New Theater Company where he produced and directed numerous plays.

He graduated with a BA in French Literature and Literary Criticism from Yale University in 1981, and attended the Yale School of Drama. From 1982-86 he lived in Berlin and Paris, writing; from 1987-93 he lived in Paris, London and Milan, shooting fashion and advertising photography; during this period he co-founded (with Gilles Dusein) the Paris conceptual photography gallery ‘Urbi et Orbi’, and co-founded (with Kurt Novack) a graphic design studio, ‘Pourriture Noble’. From 1993 until 1998, he developed several publishing projects in Moscow (Delovie Lyudi (Russian: Деловые люди) for the French Groupe Hersant, Ponedyelnik (Russian: Понедельник), an independent news/business weekly, and an entertainment listings bi-weekly Vechernyaya Moskva (Russian: Вечерняя Москва)).

Shortly after the Russian financial crisis of August, 1998, Paulson, together with Anton Kudryashov, founded Afisha[1], an entertainment and listings magazine which became the cultural touchstone of Moscow and St. Petersburg; online, afisha.ru extended its audience throughout Russia and abroad with local partnerships and local content. Afisha is still one of only a very few significant indigenous brands in any sector created in Russia since Perestroika.[1]

Bolshoi Gorod (Russian: Большой Город), a free bi-weekly ”Sunday Magazine Section to a daily newspaper that doesn’t exist”, was launched in Moscow in 2002 and local editions have since appeared around Russia. Afisha MIR, a monthly glossy travel and lifestyle magazine, was launched in 2003. To this day Afisha Publishing House sets the high water mark for independent magazine publishing in Russia; it was sold to Russian media group, ProfMedia [2] in 2005.

In 2006, Paulson, together with Alexander Mamut, founded an online media company SUP[2] which now consists of LiveJournal[3][3][4] (the principal blogging platform/social network in Russia, reaching 1/3 of all Russian users every month, with 30m unique visitors/month worldwide), Championat [4] (the largest sports site in Russia), Gazeta [5] (the largest news site in Russia); an advertising agency Victory, and online sales house +SOL. SUP is currently developing LiveJournal in major markets outside of Russia, including the U.S., the U.K., India and Singapore.[5] In 2008, Kommersant Publishing House acquired a shareholding in SUP, which now has 300 employees in offices in Moscow and San Francisco. Paulson is Chairman of the Board of Directors of SUP.

References

  1. ^ Danilova, Maria (2003-10-16). "Young PR Guru Goes From Kant to Shampoo". The Moscow Times. http://www.rusnet.nl/news/2003/10/16/report_01_2137.shtml. 
  2. ^ Mercer, Martha (2007-03-13). "A New Image of Russia". The New York Sun. http://www.nysun.com/article/50342?page_no=2. Retrieved 2007-11-21. 
  3. ^ "LiveJournal Grows Increasingly Russian". NOVECON: Russia/CIS Telecommunications Press Digest. 2006-10-19. 
  4. ^ Boulton, Clint (2007-12-03). "Six Apart Sells LiveJournal to Russia's SUP". Ziff Davis Enterprise, Inc.. http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1895,2227293,00.asp. 
  5. ^ Andrews, Robert (2008-07-23). "Russia's Web Revolution: Making Livejournal Pay". The Washington Post. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/23/AR2008072301012.html. 

"The Blogging Czar of Moscow" (14/2/08), from BusinessWeek: [6]

"Interview with Andrew Paulson" (English translation of live online interview, 12/12/07), from Sostav.ru: [7]

External links