Categories: OLD Media Moves

The Sharesleuth.com strategy

Patricia B. Gray of Wired magazine takes a look in the latest issue at Sharesleuth.com, the investigative business journalism web site that has drawn the ire of some because its backer, billionaire Mark Cuban, invests in some of the companies that it covers.

Gray wrote, “They are planning to hire four new researchers to supplement the one freelancer they currently use, as well as a part-time videographer. Eventually, [editor Chris] Carey says, they hope to develop multimedia content, including podcasts and hi-def video. But for now, Sharesleuth remains more of a hobby for Cuban than a profit center. And because Carey has only covered thinly traded companies, Cuban has only been able to make small bets so far. ( Cuban initially told wired that he made $150,000 from his short positions, but later denied that figure, saying ‘I’m not going to give you the correct number.’)

“Carey and Cuban don’t dismiss just the ethical qualms of traditional media; they’ve abandoned its business model as well. Sharesleuth contains no advertising and sells no subscriptions. Carey and Cuban don’t care about pageviews or clickthrough rates. It doesn’t really matter how many people read their stories, as long as the information they uncover gets circulated widely enough to move a stock. Sharesleuth’s continued success depends upon Carey’s ability to locate companies with overpriced offerings and to convincingly skewer them. In other words, it is a model that rewards accuracy and tenacity over eyeballs. ‘We don’t pretend to be The Wall Street Journal or The New York Times,’ Carey says. ‘But in a world where investigative journalism is being abandoned because it is costly and risky, I think we’re doing a public service.’

“In a yellow bungalow in Ann Arbor, Michigan, Carey is pecking away at his keyboard in his tiny home office, surrounded by piles of files. It’s located on a typical college- town block, right down to a laissez-faire attitude governing home and garden that tolerates crabgrass, peeling paint, and cluttered front porches. A line of black carpenter ants streams up the wall. Carey doesn’t seem to notice.”