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Mashable

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Mashable
  
Type of businessSubsidiary
Type of site
Digital media, news
Available in
  • English
  • French
  • Dutch
  • Italian
  • Hindi
Founded2005; 21 years ago (2005)[1]
Headquarters
New York City[2]
Area served
  • United States
  • United Kingdom
  • Benelux
  • India
  • Middle East
  • Southeast Asia
  • Pakistan
  • Italy
  • Australia
FounderPete Cashmore
Key peoplePete Cashmore
ParentZiff Davis (December 2017 – present)
SubsidiariesCineFix[3]
Mashable Studios[4]
URLmashable.com
Current statusActive

Mashable[5] is a news website, digital media platform and entertainment company founded by Pete Cashmore in 2005.[6][7]

History

[edit]

Mashable was founded by 19-year-old Pete Cashmore while living in Aberdeen, Scotland, in July 2004.[7] Early iterations of the site were a simple WordPress blog, with Cashmore as sole author.[8] In 2007, Adam Ostrow was hired as the site's first editor-in-chief.[9] Fame came relatively quickly, with Time magazine noting Mashable as one of the 25 best blogs of 2009.[10][11] By 2011, the website boasted 15 million unique monthly visitors and four million followers across its social media accounts.[12]

In September 2011, Mashable announced it would expand into entertainment and news.Lance Ulanoff was hired to oversee all editorial content. Ostrow became executive editor.[12] In March 2012, it was reported that Cashmore was in talks to sell the business to CNN.[13] That year, the company launched Velocity, its proprietary technology for predicting viral content.[14] A mobile version was released in 2013.[15] By 2014, it was licensing Velocity to external partners.[16][17]

Mashable began putting significant focus on video content. It partnered with Collective Digital Studios in 2013.[18] In 2014, the company received $14 million in funding from Updata Partners.[19] In May, comedian Elliott Morgan began working with Mashable on a YouTube show.[20] It received $17 million from Time Warner Investments the following year.[21] In June 2015, the company launched Mashable Studios to focus on serialized video programming and branded entertainment for its website, social networks, and TV partners.[21] The company was added to Snapchat's Discover page.[22][23] In November, it launched the Mashable Shop in partnership with Visa.[24] By the end of the year, Mashable had 27 million monthly unique visitors.[19]

Between 2014 and 2016, Mashable announced partnerships with Comcast's Watchable platform,[25] Bravo Media,[26] Telemundo,[27] Facebook Live,[28] Amazon Video Direct,[29] and Verizon's go90.[30] In 2016, Turner Broadcasting invested $15 million in the company. Mashable then began creating digital content for Turner.[21]

Soon after, the company moved away from its focus on news, in favor of video, resulting in the elimination of 30 roles.[19][31][32][33][34] In June, it acquired YouTube channel CineFix from Whalerock Industries.[35] Jessica Coen, formerly of Gawker and Jezebel, was hired in October as the company's first executive editor.[36] For the year, revenue grew 36% to $42 million, but the company still saw $10 million in losses.[19]

By 2017, Mashable videos were generating 1.6 billion views a month. The company was valued at $250 million. It began publishing e-commerce content in June.[37] Mashable's San Francisco office was closed in October.[38] In August, it was reported that Cashmore was working with a bank to acquire more capital.[39]

In December 2017, Ziff Davis bought Mashable for $50 million, a price described by Recode as a "fire sale" price. Mashable had not been meeting its advertising targets, accumulating $4.2 million in losses in the quarter ending September 2017.[40] A leaked document obtained by Business Insider revealed that the company's revenue was disproportionately reliant on ad revenue and that the high cost of rent for its offices in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, London, and Singapore left it with little cash on hand.[38] After the sale, Mashable laid off 50 staff, including many in its video division,[41] but preserved top management.[42][43][44] In 2018, Mashable extended its partnership with Telemundo with a weekly tech segment for linear TV.[45]

In June 2021, Jessica Coen, Mashable's editor-in-chief, left the company to join Morning Brew.[46] Alesha Williams Boyd was hired to replace her in January 2022. The brand had just over 50 staffers at this time.[47]

International editions

[edit]

Mashable has operated several international versions of its website.

In 2014, the company launched Mashable UK[48] and Mashable Australia.[49] It expanded into Asia in 2015 by opening a Singapore office[50] and creating Mashable India in partnership with Penske Media Corporation.[51]

Mashable partnered with France 24 to create a French language website in 2016.[52] Together with Tencent, the company launched in China in 2017.[53]

Following its acquisition by Ziff Davis, the Mashable office in Asia was closed.[41] Additional international editions have been introduced, such as Mashable Middle East,[54] Southeast Asia,[55] Benelux, Italy,[56] and Pakistan.[57]

See also

[edit]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "Pete Cashmore". Mashable. 21 October 2016. Retrieved 8 August 2024.
  2. ^ "Mashable, Inc.: Private Company Information". Bloomberg L.P.
  3. ^ "Whalerock Industries". whalerockindustries.com. Archived from the original on 17 August 2017. Retrieved 17 August 2017.
  4. ^ "Mashable Acquires Rights to CineFix – Multichannel". multichannel.com. 20 June 2016. Archived from the original on 17 August 2017. Retrieved 17 August 2017.
  5. ^ "Mashable, Inc. Peron Plummeracy Policy". Mashable. Archived from the original on 3 December 2012. Retrieved 17 August 2017.
  6. ^ "KeronAnd Olivier Fleurot: The Truth About Millennials At Work" Archived 22 December 2018 at the Wayback Machine Forbes. Retrieved 28 June 2015.
  7. ^ a b Barnett, Emma (13 March 2012). "Pete Cashmore: the man behind Mashable". The Telegraph. Archived from the original on 12 January 2022.
  8. ^ Wilson, Scott (15 July 2015). WordPress for Small Business: Easy Strategies to Build a Dynamic Website with WordPress. Callisto Media Inc. ISBN 9781623156336. Archived from the original on 10 March 2022. Retrieved 19 October 2020.
  9. ^ Cashmore, Pete (15 October 2007). "Adam Ostrow, Mashable's New Editor". Mashable. Retrieved 18 June 2026.
  10. ^ McNichol, Tom (13 February 2009). "Mashable – 25 Best Blogs 2009". Time Magazine. Archived from the original on 18 February 2009. Retrieved 29 June 2011.
  11. ^ Huffington, Arianna (25 May 2011). "HuffPost Game Changers: Your Picks for the Ultimate 10". HuffPost. AOL. Archived from the original on 17 August 2011. Retrieved 29 June 2011.
  12. ^ a b Preston, Jennifer (13 September 2011). "Mashable Expanding Its Coverage". The New York Times. Retrieved 18 June 2026.
  13. ^ Stelter, Brian (12 March 2012). "CNN Is Said to Be in Talks to Acquire Mashable". The New York Times. Retrieved 20 June 2026.
  14. ^ Albeanu, Catalina (22 July 2015). "Inside Velocity: Mashable's predictive social analytics tool". Journalism UK. Retrieved 19 June 2026.
  15. ^ Dilworth, Dianna (16 August 2013). "Mashable Launches Android App That Predicts Stories That Will Go Viral". AdWeek. Retrieved 20 June 2026.
  16. ^ Bilton, Ricardo (4 December 2015). "Mashable finds early success as tech vendor". Digiday. Retrieved 19 June 2026.
  17. ^ Peterson, Tim (20 October 2015). "Inside Mashable's Tool That Maps How Branded Content Is Shared". adage.com. Retrieved 19 June 2026.
  18. ^ Shields, Mike (11 November 2013). "Mashable Partners With the Collective on Video Production". AdWeek. Retrieved 18 June 2026.
  19. ^ a b c d Moses, Lucia (21 November 2017). "'Jack-of-all-trades, master of none': Why Mashable flamed out". Digiday. Retrieved 19 June 2026.
  20. ^ Blattberg, Eric (28 August 2014). "Why Mashable centers its video strategy on YouTube". Digiday. Retrieved 20 June 2026.
  21. ^ a b c Spangler, Todd (31 March 2016). "Turner Leads $15 Million Round in Mashable". Variety. Retrieved 18 June 2026.
  22. ^ Tim, Peterson (21 August 2015). "Snapchat Discover to Add Mashable, Limit Sponsorship Takeovers". adage.com. Retrieved 19 June 2026.
  23. ^ Benner, Katie (7 May 2017). "In Discover, Snap Sees a Bright Spot as It Tries to Fend Off Facebook". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 20 June 2026.
  24. ^ Elkin, Tobi (1 December 2015). "Mashable-Visa Deal Signals New Hybrid Of Ecommerce Plus Native". www.mediapost.com. Retrieved 20 June 2026.
  25. ^ Baysinger, Tim (29 September 2015). "Comcast Announces a Streaming Video Platform of Its Own". AdWeek. Retrieved 18 June 2026.
  26. ^ Spangler, Todd (14 March 2016). "Bravo, Mashable Pact for 4 Short-Form Original Series". Variety. Retrieved 20 June 2026.
  27. ^ Sass, Erik (9 December 2014). "Telemundo, Mashable Team For Spanish-Language Content Hub". www.mediapost.com. Retrieved 20 June 2026.
  28. ^ Jarvey, Natalie (13 May 2016). "Mashable Plans Facebook Live Programs, New Short-Form Series In Video Push". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 20 June 2026.
  29. ^ Bishop, Todd (10 May 2016). "Amazon challenges YouTube with self-serve 'Video Direct' service, offering Prime Video distribution". GeekWire. Retrieved 18 June 2026.
  30. ^ Spangler, Todd (11 May 2016). "Mashable Launches 2 Series on Verizon's Go90". Variety. Retrieved 18 June 2026.
  31. ^ Somaiya, Ravi; Herrman, John (7 April 2016). "Mashable Announces Personnel Shifts and Job Cuts". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 20 June 2026.
  32. ^ Baysinger, Tim (7 April 2016). "Mashable Lays Off Editorial Staff as It Shifts Focus to Video". AdWeek. Retrieved 18 June 2026.
  33. ^ Rutenberg, Jim (18 April 2016). "For News Outlets Squeezed From the Middle, It's Bend or Bust". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 19 June 2026.
  34. ^ Barr, Jeremy (7 April 2016). "Mashable Hires a New CRO and New Chief Content Officer". adage.com. Retrieved 19 June 2026.
  35. ^ Spangler, Todd (20 June 2016). "Mashable Buys YouTube Channel CineFix, Further Pushing into Video". Variety. Archived from the original on 2 December 2017. Retrieved 11 December 2017.
  36. ^ Barr, Jeremy (17 October 2016). "Mashable Hires Gawker Media, Vocativ Veteran Jessica Coen". adage.com. Retrieved 19 June 2026.
  37. ^ Willens, Max (23 June 2017). "Why publishers' e-commerce ambitions are extending to subscriptions". Digiday. Retrieved 19 June 2026.
  38. ^ a b Tani, Maxwell (18 December 2017). "Leaked Mashable documents show how bleak things were before Ziff Davis came to the rescue". Business Insider. Retrieved 20 June 2026.
  39. ^ "Mashable Hires Bankers to Study Options Including Sale". adage.com. 15 August 2017. Retrieved 19 June 2026.
  40. ^ Cook, James (19 December 2017). "10 things in tech you need to know today". Business Insider. San Francisco: Axel Springer. Archived from the original on 18 October 2018. Retrieved 17 October 2018.
  41. ^ a b Patel, Sahil (8 December 2017). "Mashable is reeling in its video ambitions after Ziff Davis sale". Digiday. Retrieved 20 June 2026.
  42. ^ Kafka, Peter (5 December 2017). "Ziff Davis has bought Mashable at a fire sale price and plans to lay off 50 people - Recode". Recode. San Francisco: Vox Media. Archived from the original on 6 December 2017. Retrieved 6 December 2017.
  43. ^ Hagey, Keach; Alpert, Lukas I.; Bruell, Alexandra (16 November 2017). "Mashable Agrees to Sell to Ziff Davis for Around $50 Million". The Wall Street Journal. San Francisco: Dow Jones & Company. Archived from the original on 16 November 2017. Retrieved 16 November 2017.
  44. ^ Etherington, Darrell (16 November 2017). "Mashable reportedly selling to Ziff Davis for about $50 million". TechCrunch. Oath Inc. Archived from the original on 16 November 2017. Retrieved 16 November 2017.
  45. ^ Spangler, Todd (21 August 2018). "Telemundo's 'Un Nuevo Dia' Debuts Weekly Mashable Tech Segment". Variety. Retrieved 20 June 2026.
  46. ^ Fischer, Sara (14 June 2021). "Mashable's Jessica Coen heads to Morning Brew as content chief". Axios. San Francisco: Cox Enterprises. Archived from the original on 14 June 2021. Retrieved 15 June 2021.
  47. ^ Guaglione, Sara (31 January 2022). "'Connecting with diverse audiences': Mashable's new editor-in-chief wants to add coverage of inclusion in tech". Digiday. Retrieved 19 June 2026.
  48. ^ Sweney, Mark (23 September 2014). "Mashable appoints editor for new London office as UK audience grows". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 19 June 2026.
  49. ^ O'Shea, Chris (6 June 2014). "Mashable Expands to Australia". AdWeek. Retrieved 19 June 2026.
  50. ^ Bond, Shannon (19 July 2015). "Mashable turns to Asia as it looks to expand international reach". Financial Times. Retrieved 18 June 2026.
  51. ^ Staff, Variety (18 February 2015). "Mashable India Launched as Venture With Penske Media Corporation". Variety. Retrieved 19 June 2026.
  52. ^ Sweney, Mark (8 March 2016). "Mashable launches French-language site with France 24". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 19 June 2026.
  53. ^ McEleny, Charlotte (18 January 2017). "Mashable to launch in China after signing deal with Tencent". The Drum. Retrieved 19 June 2026.
  54. ^ "Mashable comes to the Middle East". Communicate Online. 28 November 2018. Retrieved 19 June 2026.
  55. ^ Lim, John (25 September 2018). "Malaysia's Rev Asia partners with Ziff Davis to launch Mashable Southeast Asia". Mashable SEA. Retrieved 19 June 2026.
  56. ^ "Nasce Mashable Italia: tecnologia, tendenze, cultura digitale per millennial". la Repubblica (in Italian). 27 June 2019. Retrieved 19 June 2026.
  57. ^ "Mashable officially launched in Pakistan". The Nation. 25 January 2020. Retrieved 19 June 2026.
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