Business Insider Co-Founder Henry Blodget Envisions Site as Digital Generation’s ‘Financial Publication of Record’

Website co-founder also hopes for expansion to the small screen: “We do think we’ll move to television at some”

On the heels of Axel Springer investing $343 million in Business Insider, site co-founder Henry Blodget envisions global expansion that will make the media company the digital generation’s “financial publication of record.”

In an interview with Politico, Blodget forecasted a five-year plan that includes a subscription component, regional editions throughout Europe and Asia, and an expansion that will add 1,300 staffers by 2020.

That’s an ambitious jump from today’s 350 full-time employees based in New York, London, Chicago, San Francisco and some smaller states.

BI’s plan is to add 100 to 200 editorial staffers per year over the next five years, president and COO Julie Hansen told Politico.

The site will expand to Germany in November and is scheduled to launch sites in Poland, France and a third country, that has yet to be announced, over the next six months.

Hansen hinted at “active talks” in four additional countries she also declined to name. She did reveal the website would like to expand to Hong Kong.

Blodget also revealed his eyes for the the small screen.

“We do think we’ll move to television at some point,” he said. “I don’t know what form that will take, but I believe there’s opportunity there.”

Business Insider was founded in 2009 by Kevin Ryan, a former digital advertising executive, and included Blodget’s Silicon Alley Insider, which was launched in 2007.

Blodget has been the editor and lead executive at Business Insider. The site has made huge strides in traffic growth in recent years and first reported a profit at the end of 2010. In June 2012 it was reported to have 5.4 million unique visitors.

Comments