Jim Friedlich

Last updated
Jim Friedlich
Headshot of Jim Friedlich during the Knight Media Forum 2019 (46506272564).jpg
Born (1957-02-22) February 22, 1957 (age 66)
Montclair, New Jersey, U.S.
Education Dartmouth College
Wesleyan College (BA)
Stanford University (MBA)
Occupation(s)Chief Executive Officer and Executive Director of the Lenfest Institute
Spouse
​
(m. 1991)​

James Friedlich (born February 2, 1957) is an American media and philanthropy executive. [1] He serves as chief executive officer and executive director of the Lenfest Institute for Journalism, a non-profit organization that supports innovative journalism initiatives nationwide and is the owner of The Philadelphia Inquirer. [2] He serves on the board of directors of digital jobs marketplace Dice Holdings, Inc. (DHI, NYSE), and is an investor in several digital media and technology companies. [3] [4] [5] Friedlich held senior operating positions at Dow Jones and The Wall Street Journal and was a board director of CNBC International. He was a seed investor in Business Insider before its sale to Axel Springer in 2015. [6] [7]

Contents

Career

Dow Jones and Company

From 1990–2000, Friedlich managed the global advertising sales, consumer marketing and business development of various Dow Jones & Company newspapers, magazines, web sites, TV channels and conferences. [8] [9] He had business responsibility for all WSJ foreign-language print editions as well as full global sales, marketing and business development responsibility for all Dow Jones international holdings on the Internet, on TV, and in print. Among his responsibilities were The Wall Street Journal , The Wall Street Journal Americas – the largest-circulation Journal edition outside of the United States – and CNBC Europe and CNBC Asia, as well as the local language editions of The Wall Street Journal in Europe, Asia, Latin America and the Middle East. [10] [11]

From 1999-2000, Friedlich headed Business Development for Dow Jones' Electronic Publishing Group, including WSJ.com, Dow Jones Newswires, and Dow Jones Indexes. Friedlich played key roles in the creation of a number of new print, Internet, TV and conference properties while at Dow Jones. He was responsible for the international business launch of WSJ.com, co-founded The Wall Street Journal Americas, and launched Dow Jones Conferences, the company’s first events business. [12] He served on the board of directors of several international media companies and publications including CNBC Europe, CNBC Asia, Nikkei International, Vedomosti , a Russian language business newspaper joint venture with the Financial Times , America Economia , and the Far Eastern Economic Review . He also served as a managing director of Handelsblatt-Dow Jones, GmbH, a joint venture with Germany’s leading business publisher. [13]

ZelnickMedia

Friedlich co-founded New York-based media private equity firm ZelnickMedia (now ZMC) with Wesleyan University classmate Strauss Zelnick in 2001 as one of four original partners. [14] [15] From 2001-2011, Friedlich specialized in investments in publishing, business-to-business media, professional information and marketing services. He was integrally involved in investments in Take-Two Interactive Software (TTWO), [16] Alloy Media, [17] ITN Networks, [18] and Time-Life. [19] [20] Friedlich served from 2005-2013 as chairman of the board of Naylor LLC, a North American business-to-business publisher and events company before its sale to RLJ Equity Partners in 2013, the private equity firm of BET founder Bob Johnson. [21] [22]

Empirical Media Advisors

Friedlich founded Empirical Media Advisors with Jack Griffin in 2011. He was appointed CEO in 2014 when Griffin left to become CEO of Tribune Publishing, an Empirical client. [23] [24] Empirical advises news and media companies on their digital transition, and has worked closely with The Wall Street Journal, Reuters, Bloomberg, Tribune Publishing, The Philadelphia Inquirer and other news organizations in the U.S. and abroad. According to press reports, the firm advised investors on the prospective purchase of the New York Daily News [25] and The Boston Globe , [26] and was instrumental in the digital-first redesign of The Dallas Morning News . [27] Empirical has been quoted widely on media and journalism topics, including by The Wall Street Journal, Fortune magazine, and The Washington Post . [28] [29] [30] [31] [32] [33] Empirical Media was acquired by cable television pioneer H.F. “Gerry” Lenfest who donated the company to the Institute for Journalism in New Media, later renamed The Lenfest Institute for Journalism. [34] Empirical Media and its team of advisors have been fully integrated into the Institute, offering guidance to news organizations around the world.

Digital Media Investments

Friedlich was active as an early-stage investor in digital content, news and advertising technology, often co-investing with former Wall Street Journal executives Gordon Crovitz and Craig Forman through NextNews Ventures, an early-stage private investment fund. [35] Friedlich was a seed investor in Business Insider, with Henry Blodget, Kevin Ryan, Crovitz and others, and in subsequent investment rounds with Jeff Bezos. [36] Press accounts have cited NextNews Ventures investments in Nuzzel, a social media curation tool, with Andreesen Horowitz, [37] Poncho [a weather chat bot] with Betaworks, Lerer Hippeau Ventures, Comcast, and RRE Ventures, [38] Watchup, a news video player, with Tribune Media, [39] and Skift, a travel news company, with Lerer Hippeau. [40]

The Lenfest Institute for Journalism

Friedlich was named in September 2016 to lead The Lenfest Institute for Journalism, a non-profit organization that supports innovative news initiatives nationwide, with a special emphasis on metropolitan areas, such as Philadelphia. Founded by cable TV pioneer H.F. Lenfest, the Institute’s mission is to develop effective business models for journalism on the local and metro level in the digital age. The institute is the parent company of the Philadelphia Media Network, the owner of The Philadelphia Inquirer. [41] The Institute and the Knight Foundation announced in February 2017 a $4.8 million three-year grant program designed to assist over a dozen major U.S. news organizations in their digital transformation. [42] [43]

Personal

Friedlich attended Dartmouth College, is a graduate of Wesleyan University with a BA in English magna cum laude, and received his MBA from the Stanford University Graduate School of Business. [44] He serves on the board of directors of The Door, a New York-based youth services organization; [45] the Bard College Center for Civic Engagement; [46] and WFMU, a public radio station.

Friedlich lives with his wife Melissa Stern, [47] [48] an arts journalist and studio artist, and their son Max Friedlich, a playwright and television writer. [49]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dow Jones & Company</span> American publishing and financial information company

Dow Jones & Company, Inc. is an American publishing firm owned by News Corp and led by CEO Almar Latour.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dow Jones Industrial Average</span> American stock market index

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA), Dow Jones, or simply the Dow, is a stock market index of 30 prominent companies listed on stock exchanges in the United States.

The Wall Street Journal is an American business and economic-focused international daily newspaper based in New York City. The Journal is published six days a week by Dow Jones & Company, a division of News Corp. The newspaper is published in broadsheet format and online. The Journal has been printed continuously since its inception on July 8, 1889, and is regarded as a newspaper of record, particularly in terms of business and financial news. The newspaper has won 39 Pulitzer Prizes, the most recent in 2023.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">CNBC</span> American television business news channel

CNBC is an American basic cable business news channel and website. It provides business news programming on weekdays from 5:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m., Eastern Time, while broadcasting talk shows, investigative reports, documentaries, infomercials, reality shows, and other programs at all other times. Along with Fox Business and Bloomberg Television, it is one of the three major business news channels. It also operates a website and mobile apps, whereby users can watch the channel via streaming media, and which provide some content that is only accessible to paid subscribers. CNBC content is available on demand on smart speakers including Amazon Echo devices with Amazon Alexa, Google Home and app devices with Google Assistant, and on Apple Siri voice interfaces including iPhones. Many CNBC TV shows are available as podcasts for on-demand listening. Graphics are designed by Sweden-based Magoo 3D studios.

<i>Barrons</i> American financial weekly newspaper

Barron's is an American weekly magazine/newspaper published by Dow Jones & Company, a division of News Corp.

The Wall Street Journal Europe was a daily English-language newspaper that covered global and regional business news for Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (EMEA). Published by Dow Jones & Company, a News Corp company, it formed part of the business publication franchise that included The Wall Street Journal, The Wall Street Journal Asia, and The Wall Street Journal Online. The final print edition of the newspaper was published 29 September 2017.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gerald Loeb Award</span> American journalism award

The Gerald Loeb Awards, also referred to as the Gerald Loeb Awards for Distinguished Business and Financial Journalism, is a recognition of excellence in journalism, especially in the fields of business, finance and the economy. The award was established in 1957 by Gerald Loeb, a founding partner of E.F. Hutton & Co. Loeb's intention in creating the award was to encourage reporters to inform and protect private investors as well as the general public in the areas of business, finance and the economy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">L. Gordon Crovitz</span> American journalist

Louis Gordon Crovitz is an American media executive and advisor to media and technology companies. He is a former publisher of The Wall Street Journal who also served as executive vice-president of Dow Jones and launched the company's Consumer Media Group, which under his leadership integrated the global print, online, digital, TV and other editions of The Wall Street Journal, MarketWatch.com and Barron's across news, advertising, marketing and other functions. He stepped down from those positions in December 2007, when News Corp. completed its acquisition of Dow Jones. He writes a weekly column in The Wall Street Journal, titled "Information Age."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William Lewis (journalist)</span> British newspaper publishing executive

Sir William John Lewis is a British media executive and was formerly chief executive of Dow Jones & Company and publisher of The Wall Street Journal. Earlier in his career he was known as a journalist and then editor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bill Ackman</span> Billionaire American hedge fund manager and investor

William Albert Ackman is an American billionaire hedge fund manager who is the founder and chief executive officer of Pershing Square Capital Management, a hedge fund management company. His investment approach has made him an activist investor. As of June 2023, Ackman's net worth was estimated at $3.5 billion by Forbes.

Daniel Hertzberg is a former American journalist. Hertzberg is a 1968 graduate of the University of Chicago. He married Barbara Kantrowitz, on August 29, 1976. He was the former senior deputy managing editor and later deputy managing editor for international news at The Wall Street Journal. Starting in July 2009, Hertzberg served as senior editor-at-large and then as executive editor for finance at Bloomberg News in New York City before retiring in February 2014.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Craig Forman</span> American businessman

Craig Forman is an American entrepreneur, media executive, and former foreign correspondent who served as chief executive officer of The McClatchy Company. He previously worked at The Wall Street Journal. He is currently a partner at NextNews Ventures, an early-stage private investment fund based in San Francisco. Forman has been a non-resident fellow at the Shorenstein Center at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thrillist</span> American media company

Thrillist is an online media website covering food, drink, travel and entertainment. The company was founded in 2004 and is based in New York City, United States. In October 2016, Thrillist merged with internet brands The Dodo, NowThis News, and Seeker to form the digital media holding company Group Nine Media, which has since been acquired by Vox Media in 2022.

Brett Arends is an American journalist covering finance and investing. Since 2007, Arends has been a columnist for The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) and other Dow Jones publications, such as MarketWatch. He was a contributing editor and wrote a weekly column for WSJ's personal finance magazine, SmartMoney, until it closed in 2012. He now writes for the Wall Street Journal's online edition's R.O.I. or Return on Investment, daily.

Todd Harrison is the founder and former CEO of the Emmy Award-winning internet media company Minyanville.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mic (media company)</span> American internet and media company

Mic is an American internet and media company based in New York City that caters to millennials.

<i>Heat Street</i> Former news, opinion, and commentary website

Heat Street was a news, opinion and commentary website based in the United States and United Kingdom. The website was launched in April 2016 by U.S.-based British writer and former politician Louise Mensch. It was owned by News Corp under Dow Jones & Company and featured sections on politics, technology, culture, business, entertainment, and life. News Corporation announced that the site would shut down on August 4, 2017, to become part of MarketWatch.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Strauss Zelnick</span> American businessman

Harry Strauss Zelnick is an American businessman. Born in Boston and raised in South Orange, New Jersey, he attended Columbia High School, Wesleyan University, Harvard Business School, and Harvard Law School. He is the founder, chief executive officer (CEO), and managing partner of private equity firm ZMC, the chairman and CEO of video game company Take-Two Interactive, and the former chairman of media conglomerate CBS Corporation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Theresia Gouw</span>

Theresia Gouw is an entrepreneur and venture capital investor in the technology sector. She worked at Bain & Company, Release Software and Accel Partners before co-founding Aspect Ventures, a female-led venture capital firm, in 2014. Gouw was named one of the 40 most influential minds in tech by Time Magazine. and has been recognized seven times on the Forbes Midas List as one of the "world's smartest tech investors". According to Forbes, Gouw is the richest female venture capitalist, with a net worth of approximately $500 million, primarily due to her involvement with Accel (company)'s early investment in Facebook.

Insider Inc. is an American online media company known for publishing Insider and other media websites. It is a subsidiary of the German publisher Axel Springer SE, the largest in Europe.

References

  1. ↑ Media, Empirical. "Empirical Media". empiricalmedia.com. Retrieved 2017-03-15.
  2. ↑ "Archives - Philly.com". articles.philly.com. Retrieved 2017-03-15.
  3. ↑ Inc., Dice Holdings. "Dice Holdings Announces Appointment of Jim Friedlich to Board of Directors". www.prnewswire.com. Retrieved 2017-03-15.{{cite web}}: |last= has generic name (help)
  4. ↑ "A bunch of media-focused investors have put more money into Nuzzel, the superhot news-reader app". Business Insider. Retrieved 2017-03-15.
  5. ↑ "Poncho raises $2 mln from Lerer, Greycroft, Comcast, RRE, others". PE Hub. 2016-04-28. Retrieved 2017-03-15.
  6. ↑ "Thank you!". Business Insider. Retrieved 2017-03-15.
  7. ↑ Alpert, Lukas I.; Jervell, Ellen Emmerentze (2015-09-22). "Germany's Axel Springer in Talks to Acquire Business Insider". The Wall Street Journal . ISSN   0099-9660 . Retrieved 2017-03-15.
  8. ↑ "EXECUTIVE CHANGES". The New York Times . 1990-09-11. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 2017-03-15.
  9. ↑ "Dow Jones Announces Appointments". www.apnewsarchive.com. Retrieved 2017-03-15.
  10. ↑ "Jim Friedlich biography". ZelnickMedia. Archived from the original on 2012-06-20. Retrieved 2012-06-15.
  11. ↑ "A bunch of media-focused investors have put more money into Nuzzel, the superhot news-reader app". Business Insider. Retrieved 2017-03-15.
  12. ↑ "The Business Insider Will Be Bought By Huge Media Company For More Than Fortune Magazine -- The Deal". Business Insider. Archived from the original on 2013-01-18. Retrieved 2012-06-15.
  13. ↑ "Executive Profile: James L. Friedlich". Bloomberg Businessweek . Retrieved 2012-06-15.[ dead link ]
  14. ↑ Media, Empirical. "Jim Friedlich | Empirical Media". empiricalmedia.com. Retrieved 2017-03-15.
  15. ↑ "Wesleyan Alums Create Network in NY Tech Sector". NYConvergence.com. Retrieved 2017-03-15.
  16. ↑ "How Wesleyan's Counter Culture Came To Rule New York's Tech Scene". Observer. 2011-10-12. Retrieved 2017-03-15.
  17. ↑ "ZelnickMedia pays $127M for 'Gossip Girl' creator". Boston.com. Retrieved 2017-03-15.
  18. ↑ "Trio take stake in ITN | ZMC". ZMC. Retrieved 2017-03-15.
  19. ↑ "Time Inc. Sells Time Life Division to Direct Holdings -Direct Marketing News | ZMC". ZMC. Retrieved 2017-03-15.
  20. ↑ "Time Life Unit Sold to Private Investing Group | ZMC". ZMC. Retrieved 2017-03-15.
  21. ↑ CHANDLER, DORIS. "Gainesville publisher bought for $50 million". Gainesville Sun. Retrieved 2017-03-15.
  22. ↑ Companies, The RLJ. "RLJ Equity Partners, LLC Acquires Naylor, LLC". www.prnewswire.com. Retrieved 2017-03-15.
  23. ↑ "Jim Friedlich Named Chief Executive Officer, Empirical Media Advisors". www.businesswire.com. Retrieved 2017-03-15.
  24. ↑ "Former Time Inc. Chief Jack Griffin Named CEO of Tribune Publishing". TheWrap. 2014-03-06. Retrieved 2017-03-15.
  25. ↑ "Exclusive: Witkoff in the lead to buy the New York Daily News - sources". Reuters. 2017-08-06. Retrieved 2017-03-15.
  26. ↑ "Potential bidders await Globe sale documents - The Boston Globe". BostonGlobe.com. Retrieved 2017-03-15.
  27. ↑ "At The Dallas Morning News, becoming truly digital means starting over". Poynter. 2016-03-09. Retrieved 2017-03-15.
  28. ↑ Hagey, Keach (2013-01-18). "Magazines Cross the Digital Divide". The Wall Street Journal . ISSN   0099-9660 . Retrieved 2017-03-15.
  29. ↑ Alpert, Lukas I. (2015-05-27). "Vox Media to Acquire Technology Website Re/code". The Wall Street Journal . ISSN   0099-9660 . Retrieved 2017-03-15.
  30. ↑ Hagey, Lukas I. Alpert and Keach (2015-05-12). "Huffington Post's Uneasy Position in the Verizon-AOL Merger". WSJ. Retrieved 2017-03-15.
  31. ↑ Alpert, Lukas I.; Marshall, Jack (2015-12-21). "Bezos Takes Hands-On Role at Washington Post". The Wall Street Journal . ISSN   0099-9660 . Retrieved 2017-03-15.
  32. ↑ "USA Today owner Gannett offers to buy Tribune in $815 million deal". The Washington Post . Retrieved 2017-03-15.
  33. ↑ "Can young women save old media?". Fortune. Retrieved 2017-03-15.
  34. ↑ "Rieder: Preserving great journalism in the digital age". USA TODAY. Retrieved 2017-03-15.
  35. ↑ "Home - NextNews". NextNews. Retrieved 2017-03-15.
  36. ↑ "Thank you!". Business Insider. Retrieved 2017-03-15.
  37. ↑ "A bunch of media-focused investors have put more money into Nuzzel, the superhot news-reader app". Business Insider. Retrieved 2017-03-15.
  38. ↑ "Poncho raises $2 mln from Lerer, Greycroft, Comcast, RRE, others". PE Hub. 2016-04-28. Retrieved 2017-03-15.
  39. ↑ Watchup. "Watchup Raises a $2.75M Round Led By Tribune Media to Reimagine TV News". www.prnewswire.com. Retrieved 2017-03-15.
  40. ↑ "Introducing Skift: Travel intelligence, global smartness". Skift. 2012-07-30. Retrieved 2017-03-15.
  41. ↑ "Archives - Philly.com". articles.philly.com. Retrieved 2017-03-15.
  42. ↑ Center, Foundation. "Lenfest Institute, Knight Award $4.8 Million for Digital News Project". Philanthropy News Digest (PND). Retrieved 2017-03-15.
  43. ↑ "Newsonomics: The new Knight-Lenfest initiative gives a kick in the pants to America's metro newspapers". Nieman Lab. Retrieved 2017-03-15.
  44. ↑ Media, Empirical. "Jim Friedlich | Empirical Media". empiricalmedia.com. Retrieved 2017-03-15.
  45. ↑ "Staff & Board | The Door". www.door.org. Retrieved 2017-03-15.
  46. ↑ College, Bard. "Bard Center for Civic Engagement (CCE)". www.bard.edu. Retrieved 2017-03-15.
  47. ↑ Stern, Melissa. "Melissa Stern". melissa-stern.com. Retrieved 2017-03-15.
  48. ↑ "Melissa Stern – Hyperallergic". Hyperallergic. Retrieved 2017-03-15.
  49. ↑ "The Life of Man: Max Friedlich". tv.esquire.com. Retrieved 2017-03-15.


This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.