Quartz plans to become profitable by 2015

Business news site Quartz is on course to reach profitability in 2015, three years after its launch by The Atlantic Media Co., reports Jasper Jackson of TheMediaBriefing.com.

Jasper writes, “Quartz publisher Jay Lauf, who also runs the 150-year-old magazine The Atlantic, revealed the target for the first time in an interview with TheMediaBriefing this week, and he says he’s confident Quartz can achieve it.

“‘We felt like we would be investing in Quartz for three years or so, and I think we can early on see daylight in 2015. You have to invest to get that audience growth, but there’s headroom even with the current investments to continue to develop,’ he tells me.

“Lauf joined Atlantic from WIRED in 2008 and oversaw the launch of Quartz. The site is now regularly pulling in 3.5 million unique users a month and enjoyed a big spike in July, when it attracted five million people. According to Lauf, such audience peaks have a lasting effect on traffic numbers with many new users coming back over time.

“Pulling in readers is all very well, but how’s it going to start making money to break even and pull away into the black?”

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