James Ledbetter, former editor in chief of Inc. magazine and head of content at Sequoia Capital, has been hired as executive editor of The Observer.
Observer has also acquired Ledbetter’s acclaimed paid newsletter FIN, focused on decentralized finance and fintech. FIN will become the core of a series of premium subscription products Observer will debut in 2022 as part of its relaunch.
“Jim has a gift for convening industry leaders and spotting trends and talent as they emerge,” said Observer editor in chief Meg Marco in a statement. “He is one of those editors who elevates everyone who works with him, so I’m excited that he’ll be overseeing our relaunched power lists and rankings, live journalism and events, new formats and guest essays.”
Ledbetter joins the Observer from Clarim Media, where he served as chief content officer. Prior to this, he was the head of content at Sequoia Capital, editor in chief of Inc. magazine, editor of Reuters.com, and held key positions at Slate, Time and Fortune.
In his previous tenure at Observer, he created the storied ‘Off the Record’ column, and his writing has appeared in The New Yorker, The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Nation, The New Republic and dozens of others.
Ledbetter is the author of six books and serves on the board of the non-profit Economic Hardship Reporting Project.
