Cheddar Inc. is a company.
Key people at Cheddar Inc..
Cheddar Inc. was founded by Jon Steinberg (Founder and CEO).
Cheddar Inc. is a digital media company specializing in live-streamed business and financial news targeted at young professionals and millennials. Founded in 2016 and headquartered in New York City, it operates networks like Cheddar (focusing on business, tech, and innovation) and Cheddar News (general non-partisan news), broadcasting via platforms such as YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, and its website, often from the NYSE floor, Nasdaq, and other key locations.[1][2] The company serves a digitally native audience seeking fast-paced coverage of products, technologies, executives, and market trends, solving the gap left by traditional cable news that fails to engage younger viewers.[1][2]
Cheddar has shown growth through rapid scaling, raising $57.2M in funding, and strategic acquisitions: bought by Altice USA for $200M in 2019, then sold to Archetype (owned by Regent LP) in December 2023.[2][3] Post-acquisition, it continues as a multichannel news broadcaster amid media industry shifts.[2][5]
Cheddar was founded in early 2016 by Jon Steinberg, a former BuzzFeed executive, who identified a market void in business news for millennials turning to digital platforms.[1][2][4] Steinberg, with initial team member Peter Gorenstein (chief content officer from Yahoo), launched live streaming from the New York Stock Exchange just months after inception, committing to non-stop expansion—one hour of content grew to full daily broadcasts.[1][4]
Early traction came fast: in its first financing round (January 2016), Cheddar raised nearly $3M from investors like Snapchat's Jeremy Liew and Lightspeed.[2] Pivotal hires included Anjali Kumar as general counsel in 2017, and further funding ($22M in 2018) fueled international plans and new channels like Cheddar Big News.[2] These moments humanized its scrappy rise from a two-person idea to a multimillion-dollar media player.[4]
Cheddar rides the shift from cable TV to digital streaming, capitalizing on cord-cutting trends and social media's dominance for news consumption among under-40s.[1][2] Timing aligns with 2016's explosion in live video (e.g., Snapchat, YouTube), enabling low-cost, high-reach distribution that traditional outlets like CNBC can't match.[1][4]
Market forces favoring it include investor appetite for "post-cable" models—evidenced by $57M+ funding and acquisitions—and the demand for authentic, founder-focused tech coverage amid fintech, AI, and startup booms.[2][3][5] Cheddar influences the ecosystem by amplifying emerging companies directly to viewers, fostering a pipeline for talent and ideas in New York's tech-media hub.[1][2]
Under Archetype's ownership since late 2023, Cheddar is poised to deepen shoppable media integrations and AI-enhanced personalization for live news, targeting sustained revenue in a fragmented market.[2][3] Trends like short-form video dominance (TikTok, Reels) and real-time e-commerce will shape it, potentially evolving into a hybrid news-commerce platform.
Its influence may grow by mentoring next-gen creators, but success hinges on navigating ad volatility and competition from Big Tech platforms—tying back to its origins as a bold disruptor redefining news for digital natives.[1][5]
Cheddar Inc. was founded by Jon Steinberg (Founder and CEO).
Key people at Cheddar Inc..
