Quartz

U.S. center-left

Background

Quartz launched in 2012 as a mobile-first business news site under Atlantic Media, founded by veterans including Kevin Delaney and Zach Seward, aimed at a globally minded, affluent, digitally native readership. Atlantic Media sold it in 2018 to Uzabase, a Japanese business-data firm, for roughly $75-110 million; Quartz's own management then bought it back in 2020 amid steep layoffs and the closure of international bureaus. In 2022, Quartz was sold again, this time to G/O Media (owned by private-equity firm Great Hill Partners) for under $10 million, a steep drop from its earlier valuation. Under G/O Media, Quartz drew criticism for shifting toward AI-generated financial articles and press-release rewrites that produced frequent errors, prompting former staff to call it a "zombie brand." In April 2025, G/O Media sold Quartz and its sister site The Inventory to Redbrick, a Canadian company that builds and acquires digital marketing and SaaS businesses; the deal came with near-total layoffs, leaving only a couple of editorial staffers. Media-bias monitors have historically rated Quartz as left-leaning to centrist but factually reliable, though its reduced staff and AI-driven production since 2025 make sustained, in-depth political coverage far less consistent than in its earlier years.

Sources

1. G/O Media sells Quartz to Canadian software company
2. "Quartz is now a zombie brand" | Nieman Journalism Lab
3. Quartz Fires All Writers After Move to AI Slop
4. Quartz (publication) - Wikipedia
5. Quartz is being sold to Uzabase, a Japanese business media company
6. Quartz - Bias and Credibility - Media Bias/Fact Check
7. Quartz | AllSides
8. Redbrick | Our Company

Profile compiled 2026-09-25; refreshed when ownership, funding, or the administration changes.

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