Marketing of financial products online promises far higher profit margins than the “affiliate” businesses that come under websites such as The New York Times’s Wirecutter. While a publisher recommending a gadget on Amazon may earn a one point percentage of a buyer’s purchase, payments to Red Ventures are made for directing a consumer to a Chase Visa Sapphire Reserve credit card or American Express Rose Gold card. “Reward” can range from $300 to $900 per card.
The arrival of Red Ventures executives hasn’t always gone down well with journalists who find themselves working under Mr. Elias. Journalists, like members of the medieval guild (guild hall is Twitter), are more attuned to the folk ways of their profession than any corporate culture, and some roll their eyes at Red Ventures’ Rah-Ra retreat, which features fireworks. And the song. More troublingly, some journalists from The Points Guy, who also cover the travel industry in general (this has been a comprehensive source for information on where Vaccinated Americans Can Travel), has complained that the new owners have eroded the already formidable wall between the site’s service journalism and the sale of the credit cards that fund it.
Red Ventures is “all about profit maximization,” said JT Genter, who left the site more than a year ago. He and other Points Guy writers said they were not motivated to publish stories they found suspicious – in fact, the site sometimes offered carefully critical coverage of Chase and American Express, its major business partners. is of. But he notes that Points Guy requires journalists to attend regular business meetings to report how much money the site makes from credit card sales, which some people call a tacit gesture to put their thumbs on the scale. Take it as suggestion.
Mr. Elias said Red Ventures has a “non-negotiable line” regarding the editorial independence of its sites, adding that he has given his cell number to CNET employees and instructed them to do so if they are ever on the business side. If you face pressure from them, call them.
“I told them, ‘There’s a red line,’ and they’re like, ‘Okay, we’ll see,'” he said.
Red Ventures has its roots in marketing, its investment in technology aimed at selling you something and its almost-accidental move in trying to provide readers with relatable, even journalism, made for an odd mix. And the company’s Silicon Valley style extends yet. Its employees don’t get equity in the company, and lunch isn’t free, just subsidized.
The company does offer a max-happy workplace, however, with inspirational slogans printed in cheer fonts on the walls of its atrium. The executives I heard the most were “everything is written in pencil,” a motto that makes sense for a company that’s changed almost entirely from its marketing core and became a staple of service journalism. has become a carrier. And its executives seem to have embraced the idea that they are selling trust, even if they don’t put it in the language of journalism professors.
“Brand and trust are at the core of everything we do,” said Courtney Jeffs, president of the financial services division of the company, which includes Bankrate. “If you lose brand interest, you have no business.”