Newsweek Media Group

Newsweek Media Group
Type of site
 Publication
Owner Etienne Uzac, Johnathan Davis
Website www.newsweekgroup.com
Commercial Yes
Launched 2006 (2006) (as IBT Media)
Current status Active

Newsweek Media Group is an American global digital news organization with over 90 million monthly readers.[1] It publishes the International Business Times and Newsweek, among others. Newsweek Media Group is headquartered in New York City, in the Hanover Square neighborhood of Lower Manhattan.[2] As of 2014, the company posted revenue of about $21 million and generated a profit of about $500,000.[1]

Overview

Founded as IBT Media in 2006, the company has several brands that it has built organically through specialty vertical sites and also international editions.[3]

Newsweek Media Group focuses on online publication but relaunched the Newsweek print edition in 2014.[4]

Corporate structure and revenue

Newsweek Media Group is a privately held company, owned by Etienne Uzac and Johnathan Davis. The company has not received outside funding,[5] and has grown with a focus on being an "efficient company", concentrating on the "revenue side as well as on the expenses".[6][7]

It started in 2006, with personal savings, an SBA bank loan, and no input, financial or advisory, from VCs.[5] It has been profitable since 2010.[3][5][6][7]

It has also grown through the acquisition of Newsweek.[8]

The company derives its profits primarily from advertising and has been profitable since 2010.[7] It says it has recently undertaken new ventures to become a "multi-product global media group"[9] and to diversify capital, including adopting Newsweek's subscription models across its properties, and launching a new business-to-business arm.[3][6][10] The company rebranded as Newsweek Media Group in 2017.[11]

Partnerships

Newsweek Media Group says it has an ongoing "working relationship" with Olivet University which includes the school providing design assistance and computer resources, and IBT Media providing internships for students. It characterizes it as similar to the relationships Silicon Valley companies have with local universities.[8] However, publication Christianity Today alleges that IBT Media has a close relationship both with Olivet and with its founder, controversial[8][12] evangelical pastor David J. Jang. It claims that Jang is an investor in and has exercised control over IBT Media, that Davis was formerly director of journalism at Olivet, and that Uzac was its Treasurer, at least at one time.[8][13][14] Executives characterize the relationship as between the institutions and not the founders, and that it was purely operational.[7][8]

Newsweek Media Group is part of Economist's "Ideas Channel", an ad-network based on mindset rather than demographics, set up in part to reach "an intellectual and often influential audience interested in business, politics and science".[15] The company's Bizu video platform partners with IDG Communications and France 24. for content, and Digitas and PJA Advertising and others for monetization of the platform.[9][16]

The company's brands publish to a number of 3rd party platforms, including Flipboard, Zite, and The Washington Post's Social Reader.[17]

Controversies

In January 2018 Manhattan District Attorney staff raided the company's offices, taking away eighteen computer servers, in what Newsweek reported was part of an investigation into company finances. On 1 February 2018 co-owner and chairman, Etienne Uzac, and his wife Marion Kim who acted as finance director, resigned.[18][19]

On 20 February 2018 Newsweek reported on the DA's investigation into its parent company, and its relationship with Olivet University.[19] Following the publication of the story, several Newsweek staff were fired and some editors threatened to resign stating that management had tried to interfere in the story's publication.[20][21]

On 10 October 2018, it was reported by the Wall Street Journal that IBT Media was charged with defrauding lenders.[22]

Innovations

Newsweek Media Group had run on a proprietary content management system that it has built over several years. The company started to tie-in real-time analytics into the newsroom as early as 2010, and based on those results, optimize follow-up content, positioning, and editorial calendars to serve readers. Social feedback is also built into the newsroom.[4]

The company has also created platforms for content. Bizu, a video platform for business professionals hosts content and also offers incremental revenue streams to content providers.[9]

Assets

  • International Business Times – global business and economic news, in seven languages across ten editions[23]
  • Newsweek – iconic global news provider
  • Medical Daily – medical news site[24][25]
  • Latin Times – Latin American-oriented news site[24][26]
  • iDigitalTimes – technology and digital media news site[24][27]

Chronology

  • 2006 – International Business Times incorporates in New York.[28]
  • 2008–2010 - IBTimes launches specialty verticals: Jobs, Health, Real Estate, Education and Travel.
  • 2011 – IBTimes moves into Newsweek's old offices after 1200% growth for the year.[2]
  • 2012 – International Business Times reincorporates as IBT Media, the new parent company to IBTimes, and launches Bizu, a video web portal and platform.[16]
  • 2013 – Medical Daily, HollywoodTake, and Latin Times[29] are launched.
  • 2013 – Newsweek is acquired.[30][31]
  • 2014 – Newsweek returns to print,[32] and the Newsweek operations becomes profitable [33]
  • 2017 – Company rebrands as Newsweek Media Group

References

  1. 1 2 Kaufman, Leslie. "Tiny Digital Publisher to Put Newsweek Back in Print". NYTimes. Retrieved 2014-08-14.
  2. 1 2 Stoeffel, Kat (July 6, 2011). "Braving Bad Juju, International Business Times Moves Into Newsweek's Old Newsroom". The New York Observer. Retrieved 2011-10-09.
  3. 1 2 3 Rondon, Michael. "Meet IBT Media: The Future of Newsweek". Folio. Retrieved 2013-08-06.
  4. 1 2 Moses, Lucia. "Newsweek Relaunches in Print". AdWeek. Retrieved 2014-03-06.
  5. 1 2 3 "The mysterious company that just bought Newsweek". Fortune. Archived from the original on August 10, 2013. Retrieved August 6, 2013.
  6. 1 2 3 Sebastian, Michael. "What IBTimes wants with Newsweek". adage. Retrieved 2013-08-06.
  7. 1 2 3 4 Bercovici, Jeff (August 5, 2013). "Meet the mysterious duo who just bought Newsweek". Forbes. New York. Retrieved 2013-08-06.
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 Lauria, Peter (August 3, 2013). "Newsweek's New Owners Say They Bought "A Lot Of Cachet"". BuzzFeed. Retrieved 2013-08-06.
  9. 1 2 3 Knight, Kristina (January 14, 2013). "New platform to focus on business related media". BizReport. Retrieved 2013-08-06.
  10. ↑ Politi, Daniel. "Where the second minute story counts more than the first". Slate. Retrieved 2013-08-06.
  11. ↑ http://www.adweek.com/digital/ibt-media-is-rebranding-as-newsweek-media-group/
  12. ↑ Smietana, Bob (July 16, 2012). "LifeWay land deal with Calif. school faces scrutiny". USA Today. Retrieved 2013-08-06.
  13. ↑ McCarthy, Tom (August 5, 2013). "Newsweek is dead. Long live Newsweek?". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 2013-08-06.
  14. ↑ Bercovici, Jeff (August 5, 2013). "Meet The Mysterious Duo Who Just Bought Newsweek". Forbes. New York. Retrieved 2013-08-06.
  15. ↑ Siegel, Fern. "Economist Ideas Channel Targets Elite". MediaPost. Retrieved 2013-08-06.
  16. 1 2 "Cynopsis Digital". Archived from the original on January 17, 2013. Retrieved August 5, 2013.
  17. ↑ Owen, Laura Hazard (July 23, 2012). "IBT Media Launches 'The Latin Times' Targeting U.S. Hispanics". PaidContent. Retrieved 2013-08-06.
  18. ↑ Gold, Hadas (1 February 2018). "Chair of embattled Newsweek Media Group resigns". CNN Money. Retrieved 22 February 2018.
  19. 1 2 Katz, Celeste; Keefe, Josh; Saul, Josh (20 February 2018). "Why Is the Manhattan DA Looking at Newsweek's Ties to a Christian University?". Newsweek. Retrieved 22 February 2018.
  20. ↑ Rushe, Dominic (21 February 2018). "Newsweek plunged into chaos by its own reporters' exposé". The Guardian. Retrieved 22 February 2018.
  21. ↑ Schmidt, Samantha (21 February 2018). "Newsweek publishes exposé about itself after controversial staff firings". Washington Post. Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 22 February 2018.
  22. ↑ Alpert, Lukas I.; O’Brien, Rebecca Davis (2018-10-10). "Newsweek's Parent Company Charged With Defrauding Lenders". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved 2018-10-10.
  23. ↑ "Corporate Brands". Retrieved 2013-08-05.
  24. 1 2 3 McGann, Lisa Schultz (December 5, 2014). "Newsweek Named Relaunch of the Year by Media Industry Newsletter". Digital Journal. PR Newswire. Retrieved December 25, 2014.
  25. ↑ "About Us". Medical Daily. IBT Media. Retrieved December 26, 2014.
  26. ↑ "About Us". Latin Times. IBT Media. Retrieved December 26, 2014.
  27. ↑ "About Us". iDigitalTimes. IBT Media. Retrieved December 26, 2014.
  28. ↑ "Corporate Timeline". Retrieved 2013-08-05.
  29. ↑ Martinez, Laura. "IBT Media Launches 'The Latin Times' Targeting U.S. Hispanics". Portada. Retrieved 2013-08-05.
  30. ↑ Haughney, Christine (August 4, 2013). "Newsweek, Sold in 2010, Changing Hands Again". The New York Times. Retrieved 2013-08-05.
  31. ↑ Launder, William (August 3, 2013). "IBT Media to Buy Newsweek from IAC". The Wall Street Journal. New York. Retrieved 2013-08-05.
  32. ↑ "Tiny Digital Publisher to Put Newsweek Back in Print". The New York Times. March 3, 2014.
  33. ↑ "Newsweek announces it's profitable".
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