On the 5th of May 1999, a single share of TheStreet.com stock jumped from 19 dollars to 73 dollars in a matter of hours, creating a paper fortune of 1.7 billion dollars for the company at the height of the dot-com bubble. This financial meteorite was the brainchild of Jim Cramer, a former hedge fund manager turned media personality, and Marty Peretz, the legendary publisher of The New Republic. Their partnership was an unlikely collision of worlds, merging Cramer's aggressive trading instincts with Peretz's intellectual publishing pedigree to create a digital newsroom that promised to democratize Wall Street for the everyday investor. The company went public just months after its founding, riding a wave of internet euphoria that would soon crash, but for a brief moment, TheStreet was the golden child of the financial web. Dave Kansas, who joined as editor-in-chief in April 1997, helped build the San Francisco bureau and sat on the board of directors, ensuring the site had a journalistic backbone to match its speculative fervor. The initial public offering was a spectacle of the era, with the stock settling at 59 dollars on its first day of trading, a testament to the market's blind faith in online media ventures.
The Editor's War
The leadership of TheStreet became a revolving door of high-profile journalists and executives, each trying to steer the ship through the turbulent waters of the early 21st century. David J. Morrow, a former reporter for The New York Times, took the helm as editor-in-chief in July 2001 after Kansas departed, bringing a traditional newspaper sensibility to the chaotic digital landscape. He was replaced in August 2009 by Glenn Hall, a former news manager at Freedom Communications and Bloomberg News, who attempted to stabilize the newsroom after the dot-com crash had long since passed. William Inman, another Bloomberg News veteran, took over in March 2012, followed by Janet Guyon in April 2014, who brought experience from Fortune, The Wall Street Journal, and Investopedia. The executive suite was equally volatile, with Thomas J. Clarke Jr. serving as chairman and CEO until Daryl Otte took the reins in May 2009. Otte, a founding partner of Montefiore Partners and former executive at Ziff Davis, oversaw a period of aggressive expansion and acquisition that would eventually lead to legal troubles. Elisabeth DeMarse was hired as CEO and president in March 2012, replacing Otte, and later David Callaway left USA Today to become CEO in June 2016, only to be replaced by Eric Lundberg in February 2019 after a series of asset sales.The Acquisition Spree
Between 2007 and 2014, TheStreet engaged in a frenzied buying spree that would eventually entangle the company in accusations of financial fraud and regulatory penalties. In August 2007, the company acquired Corsis, including Promotions.com, for 20.7 million dollars, only to sell it to management for 3.1 million dollars in December 2009. Executives of the company were later accused of inflating revenues and paid penalties to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, casting a long shadow over the firm's growth strategy. The company also acquired Stockpickr.com in April 2007, BankingMyWay and RateWatch in November 2007, and a 13 percent stake in Geezeo.com in 2008. In September 2012, TheStreet acquired The Deal LLC, a media company covering mergers and acquisitions, which was sold in February 2019. The company also purchased financial newsletters The DealFlow Report and The Life Settlements Report in April 2013, along with the PrivateRaise database. In November 2014, the company acquired BoardEx for 22.5 million dollars, a move that was later reversed when the asset was sold in December 2018. These acquisitions were intended to diversify revenue streams, but they often resulted in financial losses and legal scrutiny.