Dan Mitchell of the New York Times takes a look Saturday at the investigative business journalism site Sharesleuth in the wake of it publishing earlier this week a story about a private company instead of one that funder Mark Cuban had shorted its stock.
The web site has been criticized for its strategy, most notably by Forbes.com columnist Gary Weiss.
Mitchell wrote, “So, does the fact that Sharesleuth has published an article about a private company mean that Mr. Cuban has changed his thinking or his ‘business model?’ Atypically, Mr. Cuban, the owner of the Dallas Mavericks basketball franchise, has not weighed in yet. (The reason might be implied by his recent blog entry at blogmaverick.com titled ‘My Colonoscopy.’)
“In response to an e-mail query, Mr. Carey wrote that the latest article is ‘business as usual.’
“He also said the ‘business model’ had not changed, by writing: ‘Yes, the site is financed by Mark’s trading profits. But that doesn’t mean that every story will involve trading.’
“For Mr. Weiss, the article is evidence that Mr. Cuban’s ‘business model for Sharesleuth is now, officially, dead.’ The site, he said, ‘has turned out to be a bust, both journalistically and as a ‘business model.’'”
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