Hunterbrook Media is an American investigative news outlet, investment firm, and non-profit foundation. It was founded by Sam Koppelman and Nathaniel Horwitz in 2023. Hunterbrook relies on

open-source intelligence Open source intelligence (OSINT) is the collection and analysis of data gathered from open sources (overt sources and publicly available information) to produce actionable intelligence. OSINT is primarily used in national security, law enforceme ...

for its reporting, and uses its journalism to take financial positions on the subjects of its reporting. It relies on open-source intelligence and other publicly available sources of information.

History

Hunterbrook was launched in 2023 by Koppelman, Horwitz, Fitzann Reid, and Emily Pate. Koppelman and Horwitz met at ''

The Harvard Crimson ''The Harvard Crimson'' is the student newspaper at Harvard University, an Ivy League university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. The newspaper was founded in 1873, and is run entirely by Harvard College undergraduate students. His ...

'', the undergraduate newspaper of

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

. The company's name is a portmanteau of Koppelman's middle name, Hunter, and the last name of Horwitz's mother, the author Geraldine Brooks. The company established a media wing, Hunterbrook Media, and an associated investment firm, Hunterbrook Capital. Hunterbrook Capital launched with $100 million dollars and received seed funding from Marc Lasry, David Fialkow, Peter Kolchinsky, and the Emerson Collective. The Hunterbrook Foundation assists in litigation against companies that Hunterbrook Media finds to be acting potentially illegally. Its board of advisors include

Paul Steiger Paul Steiger (born August 15, 1942) is an American journalist who served as managing editor of ''The Wall Street Journal'' from 1991 until May 15, 2007. After that, he was the founding editor-in-chief, CEO and president of ProPublica from 2008 thr ...

, William Cohan, and

Daniel Okrent Daniel Okrent (born April 2, 1948) is an American writer and editor. He is best known for having served as the first public editor of ''The New York Times'' newspaper, inventing Rotisserie League Baseball, and for writing several books (such as ...

. Hunterbrook's unique arrangement, in which Hunterbrook Capital shorts or goes long on companies based on Hunterbrook Media's reporting. Hunterbrook Capital pays the media wing for first access to the articles so it can place trades before articles are published, but does not trade on information that is not publicly available. To avoid insider trading, Hunterbrook Media does not rely on inside sources for its reporting. Its first investigation, published when the company launched, focused on alleged fraud at United Wholesale Mortgage.

Reception and controversy

Hunterbrook's business model has attracted scrutiny, with the

Nieman Lab The Nieman Foundation for Journalism is the primary journalism institution at Harvard University. History It was founded in February 1938 as the result of a $1.4 million bequest by Agnes Wahl Nieman, the widow of Lucius W. Nieman, founder of ' ...

called Hunterbrook "one of the most unusual experiments in media ethics." Critics have argued that blurring the lines between reporting and revenue generation potentially violates longstanding journalistic norms. In May 2024, Hunterbrook generated controversy after Semafor revealed that Koppelman is an investor in ZBiotics, a competitor to anti-hangover drink Safety Shot, which Hunterbrook had investigated. Koppelman argued that ZBiotics was not a competitor.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hunterbrook Media analysis organizations and websites Political advocacy groups in the United States Progressive organizations in the United States Organizations established in 2023