Rob Fishman (born March 31, 1986) is an American entrepreneur and writer.
Early life and education
Fishman is from
Scarsdale, New York
Scarsdale is a town and village in Westchester County, New York, United States. The Town of Scarsdale is coextensive with the Village of Scarsdale, but the community has opted to operate solely with a village government, one of several village ...
and is a graduate of
Cornell University
Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to ...
and the
Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism
The Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism is located in Pulitzer Hall on the university's Morningside Heights campus in New York City.
Founded in 1912 by Joseph Pulitzer, Columbia Journalism School is one of the oldest journalism s ...
. He is the great-nephew of
60 Minutes
''60 Minutes'' is an American television news magazine broadcast on the CBS television network. Debuting in 1968, the program was created by Don Hewitt and Bill Leonard, who chose to set it apart from other news programs by using a unique st ...
creator
Don Hewitt
Donald Shepard Hewitt (December 14, 1922 – August 19, 2009) was an American television news producer and executive, best known for creating the CBS television news magazine ''60 Minutes'' in 1968, which at the time of his death was the longest ...
and
Marilyn Berger
Marilyn Berger Hewitt (born August 23, 1935), is an American broadcast and newspaper journalist and author. She worked for newspapers including ''The New York Times'' and ''The Washington Post'', and hosted local television news programs in New Y ...
.
Career
In 2013, Fishman's first company was sold to
BuzzFeed
BuzzFeed, Inc. is an American Internet media, news and entertainment company with a focus on digital media. Based in New York City, BuzzFeed was founded in 2006 by Jonah Peretti and John S. Johnson III to focus on tracking viral content. ...
, BuzzFeed's first acquisition. Subsequently, in 2013, Fishman co-founded Niche, a marketing company that was acquired by
Twitter
Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...
in 2015 for $50 million. In its first year of operations, Niche earned $1 million in revenue. As part of Twitter, Niche has become a "significant revenue driver" for the social network. In November 2016, Fortune reported that Fishman had confirmed his departure from Twitter.
Fishman worked as social media editor for ''
The Huffington Post
''HuffPost'' (formerly ''The Huffington Post'' until 2017 and sometimes abbreviated ''HuffPo'') is an American progressive news website, with localized and international editions. The site offers news, satire, blogs, and original content, and ...
'', contributing editor for
BuzzFeed
BuzzFeed, Inc. is an American Internet media, news and entertainment company with a focus on digital media. Based in New York City, BuzzFeed was founded in 2006 by Jonah Peretti and John S. Johnson III to focus on tracking viral content. ...
, and has written for ''
Slate
Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade regional metamorphism. It is the finest grained foliated metamorphic ro ...
'', ''
New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
New York may also refer to:
Film and television
* '' ...
'', and
The Daily Beast
''The Daily Beast'' is an American news website focused on politics, media, and pop culture. It was founded in 2008.
It has been characterized as a "high-end tabloid" by Noah Shachtman, the site's editor-in-chief from 2018 to 2021. In a 20 ...
. Fishman's coverage of the
Cornell gorge suicides
The Cornell gorge suicides were a series of suicides at Cornell University beginning in the 1970s and including a high-profile cluster of six suicides in the 2009–10 school year. The suicides occurred on bridges that span several gorges on Co ...
in 2010 for ''
The Huffington Post
''HuffPost'' (formerly ''The Huffington Post'' until 2017 and sometimes abbreviated ''HuffPo'') is an American progressive news website, with localized and international editions. The site offers news, satire, blogs, and original content, and ...
'' gained widespread attention. In 2013, a story he wrote for
BuzzFeed
BuzzFeed, Inc. is an American Internet media, news and entertainment company with a focus on digital media. Based in New York City, BuzzFeed was founded in 2006 by Jonah Peretti and John S. Johnson III to focus on tracking viral content. ...
, claiming that "the social media editor is dead," led to a firestorm from new media journalists.
In 2015, Fishman was named to the
Forbes
''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also r ...
"30 Under 30" list.
In 2016, he produced ''
Alexander IRL,'' a teen comedy film starring
Nathan Kress
Nathan Karl Kress (born November 18, 1992) is an American actor and director. Kress began his career at the age of four, notably appearing in several television commercials and providing the voices of Easy and Tough Pup in the comedy-drama film ...
that was acquired by
YouTube Red
YouTube Premium (formerly Music Key and YouTube Red) is a subscription service offered by the video platform YouTube. The service provides ad-free access to content across the service, as well as access to premium YouTube Originals programming ...
.
In 2017, Fishman founded
Brat
Brat, Brats, The Brat or similar may refer to:
Term for young people
* Spoiled child
* Military brat
** Military brat (U.S. subculture)
* Trenchard Brat, a nickname for aircraft apprentices in the British Royal Air Force
Films
* ''The ...
, a video production startup in Los Angeles.
References
Further reading
*
*
*
*
*
*
External links
Rob Fishman's ''New York Magazine'' author feed
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fishman, Rob
American technology company founders
HuffPost writers and columnists
Scarsdale High School alumni
Cornell University alumni
Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism alumni
Living people
1986 births