Outlet profile

Insurance Journal

U.S. insurance industry trade

Owned byWells Media Group, Inc. — 100% employee-owned via an Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) since December 2021; previously family-owned by the Wells family since 1936

FundingAdvertising from insurance industry businesses (carriers, wholesalers, managing general agents, service providers), event sponsorships, and subscriptions

On the administrationmostly neutral

Background

Insurance Journal was founded in 1923 and is based in San Diego, California. Mark Wells Sr. purchased the struggling publication during the Great Depression in 1936, reportedly acquiring it for $1,000 plus assumed debts, and converted it into a property and casualty insurance trade magazine. After Wells Sr. died in 1970, his son Mark Wells Jr. took over and spent roughly five decades building the operation into a broader B2B media company that includes sister titles such as Claims Journal, Carrier Management, and MyNewMarkets. In December 2021, Wells Media Group transitioned to 100% employee ownership through an ESOP, removing any single outside owner or outside investor from control of the publication. The outlet's website, launched in 1997 and relaunched in 2000, grew into one of the most-trafficked P&C insurance news destinations in the country, with over 600,000 monthly visitors and roughly 250,000 regular professional readers. As a B2B trade outlet, Insurance Journal has consistently maintained an industry-focused editorial orientation — covering regulatory shifts, catastrophe losses, market pricing, and federal and state legislation as they affect insurance professionals — rather than staking out ideological or partisan positions. No significant editorial controversies or political scandals appear in its public record.

Sources

Profile compiled 2026-07-23; refreshed when ownership, funding, or the administration changes.

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