International Business Times facts for kids
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The home page of IBTimes on September 9, 2010.
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| Type | 24/7 |
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| Format | Online |
| Owner(s) | IBT Media |
| Founded | 2006 |
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| Headquarters | 7 Hanover Square, Fl 5 Manhattan, New York City, US |
The International Business Times is an American online newspaper that publishes news from all over the world. People often call it IBTimes or IBT. It focuses on news and opinions about business and trade.
IBT is one of the world's biggest online news sources. In 2014, it had about forty million unique visitors each month. The newspaper has several editions for different countries, including Australia, India, Singapore, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
IBTimes was started in 2005 by Etienne Uzac and Johnathan Davis. Its main office is in the Financial District of New York City. In 2013, IBT bought the famous Newsweek magazine. Five years later, in 2018, Newsweek became its own separate company again.
Contents
The Story of IBTimes
How It All Began
The idea for IBTimes came from Etienne Uzac, who was from France. While studying at the London School of Economics, he noticed that most big business newspapers focused mainly on the United States and Europe. He wanted to create a news source that covered the entire globe.
Uzac asked Johnathan Davis to help him start the company. In late 2005, they moved to New York City to launch the website. Uzac handled the business plans, while Davis built the website and wrote the first articles.
Growing and Changing
In 2012, the company hired Jeffery Rothfeder, a former editor at Bloomberg, to be the editor-in-chief. This person is in charge of all the writers and the stories they publish.
A big moment for the company was in 2013 when it bought Newsweek. This was a challenging time for the company. After a few years, in 2018, Newsweek was spun off to become an independent company.
Over the years, several different people led the newsroom. In 2016, the company laid off about 30% of its writers. That same year, Dev Pragad was brought in to become the global CEO of the parent company for both Newsweek and IBT.
What IBTimes Publishes
International Business Times first went online in April 2006. At first, it gave a summary of news from around the world. In 2007, it added a special section for Foreign Exchange (Forex) news, which is about trading different countries' money.
Some former writers said that in the early days, they had to write a very high number of articles. This is sometimes called a "content farm." They said they were pressured to get more readers for their stories.
However, starting in 2012, IBTimes began winning awards for its journalism. It was recognized for its investigative stories, video journalism, and talented writers.
Award-Winning Journalism
In 2015, IBT was nominated for a Gerald Loeb Award, a top prize for business journalism. Its reporters wrote a series of articles about problems with state pension funds (money saved for government workers' retirement). Because of these stories, the government of New Jersey started an investigation.
In 2016, IBT won four "Best in Business" awards from the Society of American Business Editors and Writers (SABEW). One winning story, "Lebanon's Refugee Economy," helped people understand the struggles of refugees from the war in Syria. Another story about high fees charged to prisoners led to a government agency taking action.
In 2017, an IBT reporter broke a major story about a new tax law in the U.S. The story revealed that a last-minute change to the law could benefit wealthy real estate owners, including President Trump and other lawmakers. The report spread quickly and won another SABEW award.
That same year, an IBT story was the first to report a financial link between a powerful New York District Attorney, Cy Vance, and the movie producer Harvey Weinstein. This story raised questions about whether Vance was influenced by donations.
Fighting Fake News
In early 2017, International Business Times joined with other major news organizations like Bloomberg and the BBC. They agreed to work together to stop the spread of fake news and make sure people could find trustworthy information online.
Company Issues
Labor Relations
In its early years, some reports claimed that IBT Media hired students who were not allowed to work in the United States. These students were allegedly paid less than the legal minimum wage to translate articles. In 2016, some employees also complained publicly about not being paid on time.
Connection to "The Community"
There has been some debate about the connection between IBT and a Christian group known as "The Community," which is led by David Jang. IBT has said that many reports on this topic are not true or are exaggerated.
Both founders, Davis and Uzac, have connections to Olivet University, which was founded by Jang. Some graduates from Olivet have worked for the company. Davis has said that he keeps his personal faith separate from his work at the newspaper.
See also
In Spanish: International Business Times para niños
