 | |
 | |
| Type of business | Private |
|---|---|
Type of site | News and entertainment |
| Available in | English |
| Founded | March 14, 2012; 12 years ago (2012-03-14)[1] |
| Headquarters | Los Angeles, California,
United States
|
| Owner | Good Worldwide |
| Founder(s) | Eli Pariser and Peter Koechley |
| Editor | Eric Pfeiffer (Editor-in-chief) |
| CEO | Max Schorr |
| URL | upworthy |
| Current status | Active |
Upworthy is a website that focuses on positive storytelling.
It was started in March 2012 by Eli Pariser, the former executive director of MoveOn, and Peter Koechley, the former managing editor of The Onion. One of Facebook's co-founders, Chris Hughes, was an early investor. In 2017, the company was acquired by Good Worldwide. Between the two platforms, they reached 100MM people a month.[2][3][4][5][6]
In October 2012 it raised $4 million from New Enterprise Associates and other angel investors, including BuzzFeed co-founder John Johnson, Facebook co-founder and New Republic owner Chris Hughes, and Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian.[7]
In June 2013, an article in Fast Company called Upworthy "the fastest growing media site of all time".[8] The site popularized a style of two-phrase headlines.[9] It has been criticized for its use of overly sensationalized, emotionally manipulative, "clickbait" style, headlines as well as having a liberal bias, and simplifying issues that are controversial by nature.[10][11][12][13] Upworthy was accused of laying off one round of writers in 2015, and another in 2016, after an unionization effort by some of the staff. The union involved, the Writers Guild of America, East, has organized several online "viral" news publishers.[14] In January 2017, Upworthy was acquired by Good Worldwide, a company that similarly focused on spreading progressive messages through their websites such as good.is. The newsrooms of the two organizations would merge as part of the acquisition. About 20 staffers were laid off as part of the merger.[6] It has worked with Unilever, Skype, CoverGirl, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.[15][16][17]
In January 2023, National Geographic Books bought Upworthy: Stories of Human Decency from Upworthy, with a publication date set for September 3, 2024.[18]
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