Outlet profile

Salon

U.S. left / progressive

Owned byOwned by Find.co, a private digital media company led by CEO Mendel Benoit. Find.co acquired 100% of Salon in November 2023. Before that, Salon.com LLC owned it. That company was run by Chris Richmond and Drew Schoentrup, who bought it from Salon Media Group in 2019 for about $5 million.

FundingMainly advertising, along with reader memberships and subscriptions, and backing from its corporate parent. In its early years it raised about $60 million from venture investors, including Adobe Ventures, Apple, Dotcom Ventures and Granite Ventures. I did not verify its current finances, which are not publicly reported.

On the administrationbroadly critical

Background

Salon was founded in 1995 by journalist David Talbot as one of the first web-native news sites. It went public in 1999 during the dot-com boom. It then spent years losing money and restructuring, and it ran on advertising and some paid membership programs. Salon Media Group sold the site in 2019 for about $5 million to Salon.com LLC, which was owned by Chris Richmond and Drew Schoentrup. Find.co bought it in November 2023. Reports at the time said it would remain a standalone brand with its existing editorial staff. Salon is known for progressive political commentary, cultural criticism, and critical coverage of Republicans and conservative media. Media-bias raters generally place it on the left. Critics from the right describe it as partisan, and its opinion-heavy mix and sometimes provocative headlines have drawn criticism. Its news reporting is more limited than that of larger outlets, and it relies heavily on commentary and aggregation.

Sources

Profile compiled 2026-11-04; refreshed when ownership, funding, or the administration changes.

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