Categories: OLD Media Moves

Business Insider Inc. dropping “Business” from its name

Business Insider Inc. is dropping “business” from its name, part of a strategy to expand the 10-year-old company beyond corporate and financial news.

Benjamin Mullin of The Wall Street Journal reported, “Next year, the company is planning to launch Insider Coffee, Insider Wine and Insider Toys as brands on social media, which may eventually expand to other platforms.

“‘Ultimately, this will allow us to do a lot more,’ said Henry Blodget, Business Insider’s chief executive, co-founder and editorial director. ‘Our ambitions are way beyond business. And we feel like our strength is native digital storytelling.’

“Business Insider, which was acquired by German media conglomerate Axel Springer SE for about $450 million in 2015, has bet big on social brands in recent years. It has launched Insider Cheese, a social brand dedicated to all things cheesy; Insider Picks, which features product recommendations; and Insider, the lifestyle spinoff of Business Insider that made its debut on social channels in 2015.

“Businessinsider.com, the website dedicated to business, financial, tech and media news, among other topics, will not change its name in the rebrand, Mr. Blodget said.”

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Chris Roush

Chris Roush was the dean of the School of Communications at Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Connecticut. He was previously Walter E. Hussman Sr. Distinguished Professor in business journalism at UNC-Chapel Hill. He is a former business journalist for Bloomberg News, Businessweek, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Tampa Tribune and the Sarasota Herald-Tribune. He is the author of the leading business reporting textbook "Show me the Money: Writing Business and Economics Stories for Mass Communication" and "Thinking Things Over," a biography of former Wall Street Journal editor Vermont Royster.