Richard loves Hutt City because...

It’s home,” says Richard MacManus, founder of technology website ReadWriteWeb, which he sold to United States digital publishing firm SAY Media late last year for an undisclosed sum said to be in the millions.

The Naenae-raised computer wiz (and former Hutt News delivery boy) continues to help run the website, one of the world’s most popular technology sites, from his home in Petone. He moved there three years ago and fell in love with the suburb, buying his turn-of-the-century villa 18 months later.

“Petone is a beautiful little part of the city and very laid back. The beach is round the corner, the cafes are just up the road – in fact, I can get to my favourite café, Go Bang, in less than 15 minutes. I can also walk from here to friends. And if I feel like it, there are plenty of arts and craft shops along Jackson Street to browse in. “People are often surprised to learn that ReadWriteWeb was run for a long time out of the Hutt, but I couldn’t have imagined doing it anywhere else.”

ReadWriteWeb began in 2003 as a sideline to Richard MacManus’ main work as a website manager, but its popularity soon forced him to drop the day job. Today it attracts 2.75 million unique visitors and 5 million page views a month.

Its 15 writers, all of whom are based in the United States, provide up-to-date coverage of new technology and trends, including hardware, software and social media. Its audience is predominantly American. Richard says the key to ReadWriteWeb’s success is its comprehensiveness and well-considered analysis. A team of in-house editors ensures content is tightly written and free of that perennial industry danger – gobbledegook.

He says the sale to a big player was necessary to enable further expansion of staff and coverage and other improvements to lift its international profile.