Benzinga
HeadquartersDetroit, Michigan[1]
Founder(s)Jason Raznick
URLBenzinga.com
LaunchedMay 18, 2009

Benzinga is a financial news website headquartered in Detroit, Michigan. The company provides financial news, analytics content, and daily newsletters.[2] It publishes both original news and syndicated news.[3] It was founded in 2010 by Jason Raznick.[2][4]

Beringer Capital of Toronto acquired Benzinga in 2021 in a private transaction that "valued Benzinga at more than $300 million," according to Benzinga, although this assertion was never independently verified.[5][6][7]

History

Jason Raznick founded Benzinga from his home in Birmingham, Michigan in 2010.[8]

Benzinga partnered with Microsoft to bring its content to Windows 8 during the operating system’s release in 2012.[9]

In 2015, Benzinga moved into a new headquarters building in the One Campus Martius building, Compuware’s former base of operations, in Downtown Detroit.[10]

Benzinga has also provided services to online brokerage companies such as Robinhood, TD Ameritrade, Questrade, and Morningstar.[7][11]

Raznick, who has said he favors "rule breakers, dreamers and doers," received a 2022 award for "disrupting financial media" from the Michigan Venture Capital Association, which described itself as "the voice of Michigan's investment community."[12][13][14]

During the company's earliest stage in 2010 when it operated from Raznick's home, customers and associates were led to falsely believe that the company had multiple employees, according to Raznick. "People don’t take you seriously if there’s just one person there," Raznick recalled to a trade publication in 2022. He claimed to have accomplished this via telephone, by impersonating several imaginary employees. [15]

In addition to its news and analytics services, Benzinga also hosts several yearly business events, such as the Benzinga Global Fintech Awards, and the Benzinga Cannabis Capital Conference.[2][16][17] The Benzinga Cannabis Capital Conference has been held in Miami and Chicago.[2][16][18] It is centered around topics related to the cannabis industry, such as legislation and capital markets.[19] It has featured speakers such as Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker.[20]

In November 2023, Benzinga has held its conferences, the Benzinga Fintech Deal Day & Awards and Benzinga Future of Digital Assets at the Convene at 225 Liberty Street in New York City.[21][22] Kevin O’Leary gave the keynote address at the 2023 Benzinga Fintech Deal Day & Awards. [22] While the Fintech Deal Day & Awards covers topics related to financial technology, the Future of Digital Assets conference centers around digital assets such as Web3 technology.[23]

'Pump and Dump'

Although not a defendant, in 2017 Benzinga was implicated in two separate civil lawsuits filed by the Securities and Exchange Commission concerning fraudulent stock promotion.[24][25] The SEC charged 27 firms and individuals in the two suits,[26] in which defendants ultimately paid individual fines ranging up to about $61,000.[27]

Related to this action, the SEC issued an "investor warning" noting that: "Articles on an investment research website that appear to be an unbiased source of information or provide commentary on multiple stocks may be part of an undisclosed paid stock promotion.".[28]

Benzinga said it was "a victim, not a culprit" in the fraudulent stock promotions, and unaware of problems with articles at issue with the SEC that Benzinga published during a nearly four-year period.[29] The purported news items, numbering in the "hundreds," were also published by SmallCapNetwork.com, InvestorVillage.com, Fool.com, and several other comparable websites, according the SEC, which didn't charge any of the sites with wrongdoing.

At least one of the defendants who agreed to an SEC settlement in 2018 [30] continued to provide material published by Benzinga as of August 2023, through her financial communications company.[31]

Plagiarism

In 2011 Benzinga plagiarized an entire op-ed essay from The Wall Street Journal written by Berkeley law professor Orin Kerr. Benzinga published this work under the pseudonymous byline "Patrick Harvard." Kerr's essay was published separately around the same time by Forbes.com under the byline of Benzinga CEO "Jason Raznick," who was among more than 1,000 unpaid Forbes "contributors" at the time.[32][33] Kerr said subsequently of the plagiarism that he was "more amused and intrigued by this than annoyed or upset."[34]

Further reading

  • Wade Cook
  • Pershan, Caleb. "When bullish finance stories are not exactly what they appear". Columbia Journalism Review. Oct. 20. 2021*
  • Kerr, Orin, Sept. 16, 2011 "Is Benzinga.com Just A Front for Plagiarists?" Volokh Conspiracy (law blog)
  • Benton, Joshua, Feb. 9, 2022 "An incomplete history of how Forbes.com became a platform for scams, grifts and bad journalism" Nieman Journalism Lab, Harvard University
  • Fortson, Danny, "D-list actress ‘ran fake news scam to push up shares’" London Times April 16, 2017
  • Seeking Alpha
  • The Motley Fool

References

  1. ↑ Benzinga CEO sees growth after Beringer takes majority stake. Bloomberg.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Reindl, J. C. "Financial media firm Benzinga to stay in Detroit after sale". Detroit Free Press. Retrieved 2023-12-11.
  3. ↑ Reindl, J. C. "Financial news start-up heading to Detroit". Detroit Free Press. Retrieved 2023-12-26.
  4. ↑ Schwartz, Danny (2021-12-13). "Benzinga Majority Acquired by Beringer Capital". thejewishnews.com. Retrieved 2023-12-26.
  5. ↑ Reyes, Max (2021-10-26). "Benzinga CEO Sees Growth After Beringer Takes Majority Stake". Bloomberg.com. Retrieved 2023-04-25.
  6. ↑ "Benzinga CEO Jason Raznick on Beringer Capital acquiring majority stake". Squawk Box. CNBC. October 25, 2021. Private equity firm Beringer Capital is acquiring a majority stake in Benzinga.
  7. 1 2 Galea, Irene (2021-10-27). "Beringer Capital buys majority stake in news outlet Benzinga". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved 2023-04-25.
  8. ↑ Walsh, Tom. "Benzinga aims to use new digs to show off Detroit". Detroit Free Press. Retrieved 2023-12-11.
  9. ↑ Kelly, Ryan (2012-10-26). "Benzinga to be featured in Windows 8". crainsdetroit.com.
  10. ↑ Walsh, Tom. "Benzinga aims to use new digs to show off Detroit". Detroit Free Press. Retrieved 2023-12-11.
  11. ↑ Klug, Emma (2016-09-29). "Detroit's Benzinga Closes $3M Investment Round, Dan Gilbert Among Investors". DBusiness Magazine. Retrieved 2023-12-26.
  12. ↑ raznick quote from his linkedin page (aug. 2023)
  13. ↑ Capelj, Renato. "Detroit's Benzinga Awarded For Disrupting Financial Media, Boosting Financial Literacy". Benzinga. Retrieved 2023-11-09.
  14. ↑ "About". Michigan Venture Capital Association. Retrieved 2023-11-09.
  15. ↑ Ghiran, Nadeen (25 March 2022). "A Bootstrapped Business: The Subscription Way". SUBTA: Subscription Trade Association.
  16. 1 2 "3 Takeaways from Benzinga Cannabis Capital Conference: This Week in Cannabis Investing". Kiplinger.com. 2023-04-14. Retrieved 2023-12-11.
  17. ↑ Dales, Shadd (2023-09-26). "Benzinga Cannabis Capital Conference 'Star Studded'". The Dales Report. Retrieved 2023-12-11.
  18. ↑ "'Star Studded' Benzinga Cannabis Capital Conference Arrives At A Time Where Critical Reform In On The Horizon". markets.businessinsider.com. 2023-12-09. Retrieved 2023-12-11.
  19. ↑ Dales, Shadd (2023-09-26). "Benzinga Cannabis Capital Conference 'Star Studded'". The Dales Report. Retrieved 2023-12-11.
  20. ↑ Smith, Benjamin A. (2023-09-28). "Illinois Governor Pritzker Delivers Remarks At The Benzinga Cannabis Capital Conference In Chicago". The Dales Report. Retrieved 2023-12-11.
  21. ↑ Radoycheva, Evelina (2023-10-25). "Devexperts Will Attend the Benzinga Fintech Deal Day & Awards". Devexperts. Retrieved 2023-12-26.
  22. 1 2 "Benzinga Kick Off Flagship Conferences Recognizing and Fueling Innovation In Finance". hackernoon.com. Retrieved 2023-12-26.
  23. ↑ "Attracting the public to Web3: 'We need to educate people in an entertaining way'". biz.crast.net. 2023-11-20. Retrieved 2023-12-26.
  24. ↑ SEC Case No. 17-cv-2541
  25. ↑ SEC Case No. 17-2540
  26. ↑ CALEB PERSHAN (October 29, 2021), "When bullish finance stories are not exactly what they appear", Columbia Journalism Review
  27. ↑ SEC "Final judgment Thomas Meyer" https://www.sec.gov/files/Judg17-cv-02541Meyer.pdf
  28. ↑ U.S. SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION Litigation Release No. 23802 / April 12, 2017 Securities and Exchange Commission v. Lidingo Holdings, LLC, et al., No. 1:17-cv-02540 (S.D.N.Y filed April 10, 2017) Securities and Exchange Commission v. CSIR Group, LLC, et al., No. 1:17-cv-02541 (S.D.N.Y. filed April 10, 2017)
  29. ↑ Benzinga says it was among victims in pump-and-dump schemes Walsh, Dustin. Crain's Detroit Business; Detroit Vol. 33, Iss. 16, (Apr 17, 2017
  30. ↑ "Promoters Barred From Penny Stock Offerings". www.sec.gov. Retrieved 2023-11-09.
  31. ↑ (See contact name at bottom of benzinga press release at
  32. ↑ "Is Benzinga a front for plagiarism?"
  33. ↑ "How publishers-turned-platforms pay their amateur contributors". 9 April 2014.
  34. ↑ Kerr, Orin (2011-09-16). "Is Benzinga.com Just A Front for Plagiarists?". The Volokh Conspiracy. Retrieved 2023-11-09.
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