Pressure of Truth
Exposing the spin on all sides of the news.
Outlet profile

Newsweek (Opinion)

U.S. center

Owned byPrivately held; co-owned equally (50/50) by Dev Pragad (also CEO) and Johnathan Davis, after Newsweek Publishing separated from IBT Media in 2018
FundingDigital advertising and ad-tech (including 2025 acquisition of Adprime); a rankings business; events; and a paid expert contributor program; approximately $90 million in annual revenue as of 2025
On the administrationmixed

Background

Newsweek was founded in 1933 by Thomas J.C. Martyn as a weekly news magazine intended to rival Time, with early backing from prominent investors including John Hay Whitney and Paul Mellon. The Washington Post Company purchased it in 1961 and built its reputation over decades as a mainstream, center-left newsweekly with substantial circulation and foreign bureaus. In 2010, amid steep print advertising declines, it was sold for $1 to audio entrepreneur Sidney Harman, then merged with The Daily Beast under IAC ownership. IBT Media — co-founded by Etienne Uzac and Johnathan Davis and linked to Olivet University, an evangelical Christian institution — acquired the Newsweek brand in 2013 and pivoted it to a digital-first, SEO-heavy model; print ended in 2012, briefly returned in 2014, and was dropped again. In 2018, the Manhattan District Attorney indicted IBT Media and co-founder Uzac on fraud and money laundering charges related to a scheme to obtain equipment financing fraudulently; Uzac later pleaded guilty. That same year, Newsweek staff were fired after the outlet reported on the DA investigation — an incident widely characterized as editorial interference by management. Newsweek Publishing was formally separated from IBT Media in 2018, with Pragad and Davis as equal co-owners. Under Pragad's leadership the outlet has expanded into ad-tech, rankings, and events, projecting over $100 million in revenue for 2026. Bias-rating organizations diverge on its current lean: AllSides rates it Center (March 2026), Media Bias/Fact Check rates it Right-Center, and Ad Fontes Media rates it as skewing slightly left. Its opinion section explicitly publishes contributors from across the political spectrum and is editorially separated from its news operations.

Sources

  1. Newsweek – Wikipedia
  2. IBT Media – Wikipedia
  3. Newsweek Media Bias | AllSides
  4. Newsweek – Bias and Credibility | Media Bias/Fact Check
  5. Newsweek Bias and Reliability | Ad Fontes Media
  6. Newsweek's Traffic Fell 75%. Its Revenue Is Rising Anyway. | Adweek
  7. Who Owns Newsweek and What Are Their Political Affiliations | Factually.co
  8. Newsweek Files Lawsuit Against IBT Media | PR Newswire
  9. What Went Wrong at Newsweek | Slate
  10. About Us – Newsweek

Profile compiled 2026-07-18; refreshed when ownership, funding, or the administration changes.

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