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Sara Fischer: The Daily Wire eyes growth investment in 2025
This piece is by WWSG exclusive thought leader, Sara Fischer.
The Daily Wire is looking to possibly partner with a larger company or raise a significant round of capital next year to meet its growth ambitions, its co-CEO Jeremy Boreing told Axios.
Why it matters: The company’s commercial success has caught the attention of investors and potential buyers looking to gain a foothold in the younger conservative culture.
- Semafor reported Sunday that Fox Corp. was eyeing potential acquisitions of conservative podcast companies, including Daily Wire.
Between the lines: Asked about a deal with Fox, Boreing said the company isn’t actively looking for a buyer, but “we’re not closed off to an offer.”
- “It’s easy to imagine a strategic partnership with Fox or someone like Fox, that could be mutually beneficial. I think that we complement Fox and don’t compete with Fox,” he added, noting Daily Wire’s audience is primarily younger and more coastal urban.
By the numbers: The Nashville-based company, which is on track to surpass $200 million in revenue this year, would come with a hefty price tag.
- Daily Wire raised an undisclosed round of capital in 2023 at a valuation well north of $1 billion, a source told Axios.
- The firm was initially funded by Republican fracking billionaire Farris Wilks, but until its latest raise, it relied mostly on its profits to fuel its growth.
Zoom in: In addition to subscriptions, the firm makes money from advertising and e-commerce.
- Earlier this year, its star podcaster and co-founder Ben Shapiro testified on Capitol Hill as part of a broader fight to get ad agencies not to dismiss conservative media. Boreing said conversations with Fortune 500 advertisers have “opened up enormously” since.
- The company made more than $22 million on commerce sales in 2023. This year, it will make more than $20 million on its Jeremy’s Razors business alone, Boreing said. Mayflower Cigars, its cigar startup, has grossed $4.2 million in sales since it launched last November.
The big picture: Like many modern media companies, The Daily Wire has started to pivot its focus away from social media and more toward its owned and operated channels.
- “The big strategic change for us is that we think a big part of the future now is in actually becoming a destination,” Boreing said. “What we want to do over the next three years is really grow the percentage of the audience that engages with our content on our platform.”
- For many years, Daily Wire was the top publisher on Facebook. It used that audience to build narrower subscription products.
- The company’s streaming service, Daily Wire+, has well over 1 million subscribers, Boreing said. This year will be its biggest in terms of gross subscription additions since it launched in 2021.
- Next year, Boreing says the company will expand its podcast suite and will add more focus to its children’s subscription entertainment platform, Bentkey.
The intrigue: Despite their political differences, Boreing says he’s taking cues from the New York Times.
- “It’s an unbelievable success, and it shows us that there is a path to serving an audience on-platform and not being completely at the mercy of the social partner.”
What to watch: Most of Daily Wire’s content today is focused on news analysis and entertainment. But looking ahead, Boreing said the firm wants to invest more in original journalism.
- “We think that there’s a real opening for us,” he said.
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