Venture capitalist Michael Moritz’s San Francisco Standard is buying Charter, a media outlet that says it is dedicated to “the future of work,” and installing co-founder/CEO Kevin Delaney as The Standard’s new editor-in-chief.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed on Monday (but to be clear, Charter Communications is not involved).
Delaney will also remain the boss of Charter, which he co-founded in 2021; the outlet has received $4 million in funding since then, including from Bloomberg Beta, as well as individual investments from The Information founder Jessica Lessin and The Atlantic chairman emeritus David G. Bradley, among other investors.
Hot topics covered by Charter have included artificial intelligence and its role in the workplace, DEI initiatives and hybrid and remote work roles.
Delaney, in a post about the deal on Monday, said Charter was founded to address the “glaring need” for a “new playbook for how to build companies.”
He added: “Today, the landscape in front of us continues to shift even more profoundly with AI, and joining The Standard places Charter on the scene of that transformation.”
Prior to launching Charter, Delaney held several prominent roles at major mainstream outlets, including being a senior editor at The New York Times, a managing editor for the Wall Street Journal’s website, and the founding editor-in-chief and co-chief executive of Quartz. The Standard’s last EIC was Julie Makinen, who left the outlet last year.
The 70-year-old Moritz is one of Silicon Valley’s best-known VCs, having worked at Sequoia Capital from 1986 to 2023. He made a number of bets on tech companies during his time at Sequoia, with some of his best investments being made in YouTube, PayPal and Google.
Moritz told The Times he started the San Francisco Standard in 2021 because he “couldn’t find out” what was happening in the Bay Area anymore and because of the “erosion of all the local news outlets.” The Standard costs $9 per month or $90 per year, and includes local news and sports coverage.
In other recent Bay Area news, Moritz donated $3.4 million to the San Francisco Public Defender’s office to fight President Trump’s crackdown on people who are in the U.S. illegally.
The Standard has about 60 employees, and Charter has 10 staffers. Delaney, in his post on the deal, said Charter has 100,000 newsletter subscribers and that the pairing with The Standard will help it “unlock” a new level of journalism.
