Outlet profile

TheWrap

U.S. center-left

Owned byIndependently owned by founder Sharon Waxman, who serves as CEO and Editor-in-Chief; not part of a larger media conglomerate

FundingAdvertising, sponsored content, subscriptions, and early-stage venture capital (Maveron and other private investors funded its 2009-2010 seed and Series B rounds)

On the administrationmixed

Background

TheWrap launched in January 2009, founded by Sharon Waxman, a former Hollywood correspondent for The New York Times and The Washington Post, to cover the business of entertainment and media. It raised early venture funding, including a $2 million Series B round in 2010 led by Maveron (co-founded by Howard Schultz) and existing investors. TheWrap has grown into one of the most-cited Hollywood trade outlets, competing with Variety, The Hollywood Reporter, and Deadline, and expanded into an annual awards-and-power events business (TheGrio, TheWrap's Power Women Summit, Emmy/Oscar panels). It remains one of the few major entertainment trades that is independently owned rather than part of a larger media or private-equity-controlled group. Media Bias/Fact Check and Ground News both rate it as left-leaning in editorial framing, with Ground News rating its factual accuracy as high and MBFC rating it mixed on factual reporting due to occasional sourcing issues. Its political coverage is largely confined to entertainment-industry angles on politics (e.g., Hollywood reactions to administration policy, media ownership fights) rather than sustained political-desk reporting on the Trump administration itself.

Sources

Profile compiled 2026-09-27; refreshed when ownership, funding, or the administration changes.

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