Business Insider

Business Insider (BI) is an American financial and business news website founded in 2007. Since 2015, a majority stake in Business Insider's parent company Insider Inc. has been owned by the German publishing house Axel Springer. It operates several international editions, including one in the United Kingdom.

Not to be confused with Business Insiders.

Business Insider
Front page, 25 April 2020
Type of site
Financial news website
Available inEnglish
HeadquartersNew York City, New York, U.S.
OwnerAxel Springer SE
Created byKevin P. Ryan
EditorHenry Blodget
ParentInsider Inc.
URLwww.businessinsider.com
CommercialYes
Launched2007 (2007)
Current statusActive
OCLC number1076392313

Business Insider publishes original reporting and aggregates material from other outlets. As of 2011, it maintained a liberal policy on the use of anonymous sources. It has also published native advertising and granted sponsors editorial control of its content. On a few occasions, Business Insider has published stories that were factually incorrect. It has been criticized for using clickbait to attract viewership.

History

Business Insider was launched in 2007[1] and is based in New York City. Founded by DoubleClick's former CEO Kevin P. Ryan, Dwight Merriman, and Henry Blodget,[2] the site began as a consolidation of industry vertical blogs, the first of them being Silicon Alley Insider (launched 16 May 2007) and Clusterstock (launched 20 March 2008).[3] In addition to providing and analyzing business news, the site aggregates news stories on various subjects.[4] It started a UK edition in November 2014,[5][6] and a Singapore bureau in September 2020.[7] BI's parent company is Insider Inc.[7]

After Business Insider was purchased by Axel Springer SE in 2015, a substantial portion of its staff left the company. According to a CNN report, some staff who exited complained that "traffic took precedence over enterprise reporting".[8] In 2018, staff members were asked to sign a confidentiality agreement that included a nondisparagement clause requiring them not to criticize the site during or after their employment.[9]

Early in 2020, CEO Henry Blodget convened a meeting in which he announced plans for the website to acquire 1 million subscribers, 1 billion unique visitors per month, and over 1,000 newsroom employees.[10] The parent companies of Business Insider and eMarketer merged in 2020 in connection with the proposed purchase of Axel Springer by KKR, an American private equity firm.[11] In October 2020, BI's parent company purchased a majority position in Morning Brew, a newsletter.[12]

Finances

Business Insider first reported a profit in the fourth quarter of 2010.[13][14] As of 2011, it had 45 full-time employees.[15] Its target audience at the time was limited to "investors and financial professionals".[15] In June 2012, it had 5.4 million unique visitors.[16] As of 2013, Jeff Bezos was a Business Insider investor;[17][18] his investment company Bezos Expeditions held approximately 3 percent of the company as of its acquisition in 2015.[1]

In 2015, Axel Springer SE acquired 88 percent of the stake in Insider Inc. for $343 million (€306 million),[19] implying a total valuation of $442 million.[20]

Divisions

Business Insider operates a paid division titled BI Intelligence, established in 2013.[21]

In July 2015, Business Insider began the technology website Tech Insider, with a staff of 40 people working primarily from the company's existing New York headquarters, but originally separated from the main Business Insider newsroom.[22] However, Tech Insider was eventually folded into the Business Insider website.[23]

In October 2016, Business Insider started Markets Insider as a joint venture with Finanzen.net, another Axel Springer company.[24]

Bias, reliability, and editorial policy

Ad Fontes Media rates the reliability of Business Insider as 43.13 on its proprietary scale, indicating "generally good" reliability; and its bias at -0.38, indicating a center-left bias.[25] Glenn Greenwald has critiqued the reliability of Business Insider, along with that of publications including The Wall Street Journal, Yahoo! News, and Slate.[26] In March 2020, PolitiFact reported on a misleading headline used on Business Insider, which referred to purportedly "leaked documents" evidencing that American hospitals were preparing for 96 million cases of COVID-19.[27] In 2010, it had reported falsely that New York Governor David Paterson was slated to resign;[28] BI had earlier reported a false story alleging that Steve Jobs experienced a heart attack.[29]

In April 2011, Blodget sent out a notice inviting publicists to "contribute directly" to Business Insider.[30] As of September 2011, Business Insider allowed the use of anonymous sources "at any time for any reason".[31][32] According to the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers, Business Insider gave SAP "limited editorial control" over the content of its "Future of Business" section as of 2013.[33] The website publishes a mix of original reporting and aggregation of other outlets' content.[34][35] Business Insider has also published native advertising.[36]

Reception

In January 2009, the Clusterstock section appeared in Time's list of 25 best financial blogs,[37] and the Silicon Alley Insider section was listed in PC Magazine's list of its "favorite blogs of 2009".[38] 2009 also saw Business Insider's selection as an official Webby honoree for Best Business Blog.[39]

In 2012, Business Insider was named to the Inc. 500. In 2013, the publication was once again nominated in the Blog-Business category at the Webby Awards.[40] In January 2014, The New York Times reported that Business Insider's web traffic was comparable to that of The Wall Street Journal.[41] In 2017, Digiday included imprint Insider as a candidate in two separate categories—"Best New Vertical" and "Best Use of Instagram"—at their annual Publishing Awards.[42]

The website has faced criticism for what critics consider its clickbait-style headlines.[43][44][45][46] A 2013 profile of Blodget and Business Insider in The New Yorker suggested that Business Insider, because it republishes material from other outlets, may not always be accurate.[47] In 2018, the website received criticism from some media outlets after deleting a controversial column about Scarlett Johansson.[48][49]

References
  1. Somaiya, Ravi; Clark, Nicola (29 September 2015). "Axel Springer to Acquire Controlling Stake in Business Insider". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on 26 December 2020. Retrieved 25 December 2020.
  2. "Leading Digital Publisher Axel Springer Acquires Business Insider". Axel Springer SE. 29 September 2015. Archived from the original on 6 November 2017. Retrieved 29 September 2015.
  3. "Welcome To Business Insider". Business Insider. 23 April 2013. Archived from the original on 23 April 2013. Retrieved 18 November 2016.
  4. Foremski, Tom (26 September 2011). "Here's why news sites 'over aggregate'". ZDNet. Archived from the original on 25 December 2020. Retrieved 23 December 2020.
  5. Sweney, Mark (4 November 2014). "Business Insider launches UK edition". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 25 December 2020. Retrieved 23 December 2020.
  6. Gold, Hadas (28 February 2014). "Business Insider expanding to London". Politico. Archived from the original on 26 December 2020. Retrieved 26 December 2020.
  7. Southern, Lucinda (17 September 2020). "'We're about hiring journalists': Insider Inc. launches third global news hub in Singapore". Digiday. Archived from the original on 3 January 2021. Retrieved 3 January 2021.
  8. Kludt, Tom (29 April 2016). "Here's what Business Insider employees just said about why people are leaving". CNNMoney. Archived from the original on 21 October 2020. Retrieved 25 December 2020.
  9. Tani, Maxwell (1 November 2018). "Business Insider Staffers Can Never Say Anything Bad About the Company Ever Again". The Daily Beast. Archived from the original on 8 November 2020. Retrieved 25 December 2020.
  10. Edmonds, Rick (15 January 2020). "Business Insider grew in 12 years to a monster digital enterprise. Now CEO Henry Blodget has plotted a new wave of expansion". Poynter Institute. Archived from the original on 31 December 2020. Retrieved 27 December 2020.
  11. "Axel Springer to merge Business Insider, eMarketer in 2020". Reuters. 13 June 2019. Archived from the original on 26 December 2020. Retrieved 26 December 2020.
  12. Fischer, Sara (29 October 2020). "Insider Inc. buys majority stake in Morning Brew in all-cash deal". Axios. Archived from the original on 31 December 2020. Retrieved 27 December 2020.
  13. Schonfeld, Erik (7 March 2011). "Business Insider Turns A$2,127 Profit On $4.8 Million in Revenue". TechCrunch. Archived from the original on 27 April 2019. Retrieved 25 June 2017.
  14. Foremski, Tom (29 May 2012). "The rise of the 17-hour journalist..." ZDNet. Archived from the original on 31 December 2020. Retrieved 27 December 2020.
  15. Grueskin, Bill; Seave, Ava; Graves, Lucas (1 June 2011). The Story So Far: What We Know About the Business of Digital Journalism. Columbia University Press. pp. 99. ISBN 978-0-231-50054-8.
  16. Hagey, Keach (29 July 2012). "Henry Blodget's Second Act". The Wall Street Journal. Archived from the original on 13 April 2019. Retrieved 9 November 2015.
  17. Kiss, Jemima (5 April 2013). "Amazon's Jeff Bezos leads $5m investment in Business Insider". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 25 December 2020. Retrieved 23 December 2020.
  18. Peterson, Andrea (5 August 2013). "What happened when Jeff Bezos invested in Business Insider? More journalism". The Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Archived from the original on 26 December 2020. Retrieved 26 December 2020.
  19. Spangler, Todd (29 September 2015). "Germany's Axel Springer Buys Business Insider in $343 Million Deal". Variety. Archived from the original on 27 April 2019. Retrieved 20 July 2018.
  20. Goldfarb, Jeffrey (29 September 2015). "Axel Springer Pays Very Generous Price for Business Insider". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on 17 February 2018. Retrieved 25 December 2020.
  21. Moses, Lucia (28 January 2014). "Business Insider Has Ambitious Paid Content Plans". Adweek. Archived from the original on 25 October 2019. Retrieved 26 December 2020.
  22. Alpert, Lukas I. (27 July 2015). "Business Insider Broadens Ambitions With New Tech Site". The Wall Street Journal. Archived from the original on 27 April 2019. Retrieved 4 August 2017.
  23. Mullin, Benjamin (14 December 2017). "Business Insider Inc. Drops 'Business' From Its Name as Company Broadens Coverage, Distribution". The Wall Street Journal. Archived from the original on 13 April 2019. Retrieved 20 July 2018.
  24. Alpert, Lukas I. (24 October 2016). "Business Insider Launches Markets Data Site With Help From Axel Springer". The Wall Street Journal. Archived from the original on 6 May 2019. Retrieved 1 August 2019.
  25. "Business Insider Bias and Reliability". Ad Fontes Media. 26 September 2019. Archived from the original on 21 October 2020. Retrieved 25 December 2020.
  26. Greenwald, Glenn (30 March 2013). "Why Has Trust in Media Collapsed? Look at Actions of WSJ, Yahoo, Business Insider and Slate". The Intercept. Archived from the original on 31 December 2020. Retrieved 27 December 2020.
  27. Kertscher, Tom (13 March 2020). "'Leaked documents' don't prove US hospitals preparing for 96 million coronavirus cases". PolitiFact. Archived from the original on 31 December 2020. Retrieved 27 December 2020.
  28. Holiday 2012, p. 188.
  29. Holiday 2012, pp. 188–189.
  30. Holiday 2012, p. 233.
  31. Smith, Sydney (9 September 2011). "Business Insider Will Give Anyone Anonymity?". iMediaEthics. Archived from the original on 20 October 2020. Retrieved 25 December 2020.
  32. Myers, Steven (8 September 2011). "Business Insider: 'We will grant anonymity to any source at any time for any reason'". Poynter Institute. Archived from the original on 31 December 2020. Retrieved 27 December 2020.
  33. Tjaardstra, Nick (29 July 2013). "Business Insider gives sponsor limited content control; is it ethical?". World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers. Archived from the original on 27 December 2020. Retrieved 27 December 2020.
  34. Manjoo, Farhad (24 May 2012). "Business Insider Is Loud, Ugly—and Brilliant". Slate (magazine). Archived from the original on 31 December 2020. Retrieved 27 December 2020.
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  36. Chittum, Ryan (7 May 2013). "Business Insider goes native". Columbia Journalism Review. Archived from the original on 23 December 2016. Retrieved 25 December 2020.
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  38. "Our Favorite Blogs 2009". PC Magazine. 23 November 2009. Archived from the original on 6 June 2011. Retrieved 1 June 2010.
  39. "Blog-Business: Official Honoree". Webby Awards. Archived from the original on 27 April 2019. Retrieved 13 August 2015.
  40. "Business Insider". Archived from the original on 27 April 2019. Retrieved 9 February 2017.
  41. Carr, David (26 January 2014). "Ezra Klein Is Joining Vox Media as Web Journalism Asserts Itself". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 16 February 2015. Retrieved 26 December 2014.
  42. "Business Insider's social-first Insider is up for Best New Vertical for this year's Digiday Publishing Awards – Digiday". Digiday. 7 February 2017. Archived from the original on 27 April 2019. Retrieved 9 February 2017.
  43. Hagey, Keach (29 July 2012). "Henry Blodget's Second Act". The Wall Street Journal. Archived from the original on 13 April 2019. Retrieved 13 August 2015.
  44. Ha, Anthony (22 May 2012). "Business Insider's Henry Blodget Defends Linkbait, Slideshows, And Aggregation". TechCrunch. Archived from the original on 27 April 2019. Retrieved 23 January 2016.
  45. Bershidsky, Leonid (29 September 2015). "Can Business Insider Make Money?". Bloomberg News. Archived from the original on 23 April 2016. Retrieved 23 January 2016.
  46. Shaw, Lucas (3 November 2011). "Business Insider Grows the Way of the Huffington Post". TheWrap. Archived from the original on 31 December 2020. Retrieved 27 December 2020.
  47. Auletta, Ken (8 April 2013). "Business Outsider". The New Yorker. Archived from the original on 23 December 2018. Retrieved 23 January 2016. Intrinsic to this conversation is speed; if the facts or conclusions turn out to be wrong, they can be fixed later.
  48. Goldberg, Jonah (13 July 2018). "Waving the white flag in Scarlett Johansson flap". San Francisco Chronicle. Archived from the original on 13 April 2019. Retrieved 13 July 2018.
  49. Singal, Jesse (11 July 2018). "Business Insider Retracted a Bad Piece — and Set a Terrible Precedent". Daily Intelligencer. Archived from the original on 13 July 2018. Retrieved 13 July 2018.

Sources
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