Politico co-founder Jim VandeHei’s next venture will be a website targeting corporate executives and other professionals with both business and political news, according to the Wall Street Journal.
The yet-to-be named company will launch in early 2017, has secured about $10 million in financing, and has already hired 17 staffers, the paper reported, citing “people familiar with the matter.”
NBC News has invested and will be the site’s media partner while NBC News chairman Andy Lack will sit on the company’s board. “Our talent will appear on NBC and MSNBC and we will collaborate on other projects,” VandeHei told the WSJ.
Tech, health care and business news will be the primary topics covered with a mix of some political and media coverage, the paper said.
Some content will be free, but other premium content will be set up the way Politico Pro’s subscription model works.
“We believe — and proved with Politico — that you can build a great media company if you offer content consumers and advertisers truly value delivered the way they truly want it,” VandeHei told WSJ. “You just need to produce something people want, need and get addicted to. That’s our aim.”
A variety of former and current Politico staffers are expected to join VandeHei’s new project, including Mike Allen and Roy Schwartz.