HowStuffWorks is an American commercial infotainment website founded by professor and author Marshall Brain, to provide its target audience an insight into the way many things work. The site uses various media to explain complex concepts, terminology, and mechanisms—including photographs, diagrams, videos, animations, and articles. The website was acquired by Discovery Communications in 2007, but was sold to Blucora in 2014. The site has since expanded out into podcasting, focusing on factual topics. In December 2016, HowStuffWorks, LLC became a subsidiary of OpenMail, LLC, later renamed System1. In 2018, the podcast division of the company, which had been spun-off by System1 under the name Stuff Media, was acquired by

iHeartMedia iHeartMedia, Inc., or CC Media Holdings, Inc., is an American mass media corporation headquartered in San Antonio, Texas. It is the holding company of iHeartCommunications, Inc., formerly Clear Channel Communications, Inc., a company founded by ...

for $55 million.

History

In 1998, then

North Carolina State University North Carolina State University (NC State, North Carolina State, NC State University, or NCSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Raleigh, North Carolina, United States. Founded in 1887 and p ...

instructor Marshall Brain (1961–2024), started the site as a hobby. In 1999, Brain raised

venture capital Venture capital (VC) is a form of private equity financing provided by firms or funds to start-up company, startup, early-stage, and emerging companies, that have been deemed to have high growth potential or that have demonstrated high growth in ...

and formed HowStuffWorks, Inc. In March 2002, HowStuffWorks was sold to the Convex Group, an Atlanta-based investment and media company founded by Jeff Arnold, founder and former

chief executive officer A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...

(CEO) of WebMD.HowStuffWorks sold to vulture fund
BizJournals 2002-09-02. The headquarters moved from Cary, North Carolina, to

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

. HowStuffWorks originally focused on science and machines, ranging from submarines to common household gadgets and appliances. After adding a staff of writers, artists, and editors, content expanded to a larger array of topics. On October 20, 2004, Stuffo.com was created, and HowStuffWorks moved its entertainment section over to the new website. In 2005, the team disbanded Stuffo. The domain HowStuffWorks.com attracted at least 58 million visitors annually by 2008, according to a Compete.com survey. There have been four HowStuffWorks books—two illustrated hardcover coffee table books, ''HowStuffWorks'' and ''More HowStuffWorks'', and two un-illustrated paperbacks, ''How Much Does the Earth Weigh?'' and ''What If?''. HowStuffWorks previously put out an educational magazine, ''HowStuffWorks Express'', for middle-school students. The company has also released a series of HowStuffWorks trivia "LidRock" discs—

CD-ROM A CD-ROM (, compact disc read-only memory) is a type of read-only memory consisting of a pre-pressed optical compact disc that contains computer data storage, data computers can read, but not write or erase. Some CDs, called enhanced CDs, hold b ...

s sold on fountain drink lids at Regal Theaters. In 2005, HowStuffWorks became the exclusive online publisher for Publications International, Ltd., Consumer Guide and Mobil Travel Guide. Howstuffworks.com spun off its international division when it went public
Nasdaq:HSWI
via an acquisition of INTAC, a China-based company. In March 2007, HSW International launched its Portuguese website with headquarters in São Paulo, Brazil. The Portuguese name of the site is Como Tudo Funciona ("how everything works"). In June 2008, the Chinese site was launched with new headquarters in

Beijing, China Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...

. The URL roughly translates to "Knowledge Information Web". On October 15, 2007, Discovery Communications announced it had bought HowStuffWorks for $250 million. The company later chose to use the name HowStuffWorks as the title of a television series on its

Discovery Channel Discovery Channel, known as The Discovery Channel from 1985 to 1995, and often referred to as simply Discovery, is an American cable channel that is best known for its ongoing reality television shows and promotion of pseudoscience. It init ...

. The series, which focuses on

commodities In economics, a commodity is an economic good, usually a resource, that specifically has full or substantial fungibility: that is, the market treats instances of the good as equivalent or nearly so with no regard to who produced them. Th ...

,
"Precious Commodities"
. - ''

'' premiered in November 2008 and is similar in style and content to other "how it works" programs, like '' Modern Marvels''.Wasko, Janet and Calderon, Carlos.
"Modern Marvels: Celebrating How It Works"
- ''

University of Oregon The University of Oregon (UO, U of O or Oregon) is a Public university, public research university in Eugene, Oregon, United States. Founded in 1876, the university is organized into nine colleges and schools and offers 420 undergraduate and gra ...

''. - May 7, 2008 On November 2, 2009, HSW International co-founded Sharecare, developing a social QA platform through which users ask health and wellness-related questions, receiving answers from industry experts. Other co-founders in Sharecare include Jeff Arnold, Dr. Mehmet Oz, Harpo Productions, Discovery Communications, and Sony Pictures Television. On April 21, 2014, Discovery Communications announced that it had sold HowStuffWorks to Blucora for $45 million. In July 2016, Blucora announced the sale of its Infospace business, including HowStuffWorks, to OpenMail for $45 million. OpenMail was later renamed System1. In 2014, HowStuffWorks moved its headquarters from

Buckhead Buckhead is the wikt:uptown, uptown commercial and residential district of the city of Atlanta, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia, comprising approximately the northernmost fifth of the city. Buckhead is the third largest business district within ...

to Ponce City Market, a new

mixed-use development Mixed use is a type of urban development, urban design, urban planning and/or a zoning classification that blends multiple uses, such as residential, commercial, cultural, institutional, or entertainment, into one space, where those functions ...

in the Old Fourth Ward neighborhood of Atlanta. In June 2017, it announced the hiring of Cracked.com founder and former editor-in-chief Jack O'Brien for its new comedy podcasting division. In 2017, System1 spun off the podcast department of HowStuffWorks as Stuff Media, retaining the HowStuffWorks website. In September 2018, Stuff Media announced its sale to radio broadcaster

for $55 million.

Podcasts

HowStuffWorks maintained a large number of podcasts, hosted by its staff writers and editors, but now all former HSW podcasts are owned and operated by iHeartRadio. * '' Stuff You Should Know'': an audio podcast and video series on various topics from all fields of interest * ''TechStuff'': dedicated to demystifying technology and discussing its impact on society, originally hosted by technology editor Chris Pollette and senior staff writer Jonathan Strickland. In January 2013, Chris Pollette was replaced as co-host by Social Media Editor Lauren Vogelbaum. Vogelbaum left the program in 2015 and Strickland became a solo host. * '' Atlanta Monster'': in cooperation with Tenderfoot TV, a crime podcast about the Atlanta murders of 1979–81, hosted by Payne Lindsey of podcast ''Up and Vanished'' * '' Behind the Bastards'': is a weekly comedic history podcast hosted by Robert Evans exploring the lives of deplorable historical figures.

References

External links

* * * *
''How Stuff Works''
at

(archived 4 February 2013) {{authority control 2002 mergers and acquisitions 2007 mergers and acquisitions 2014 mergers and acquisitions 2016 mergers and acquisitions 2018 mergers and acquisitions American educational websites Education companies established in 1998 Internet properties established in 1998 Former Discovery, Inc. subsidiaries How-to websites

History

Podcasts

See also

References

External links