When we started The Factual in 2019, we observed that the vast majority of Americans, and indeed people around the world, were frustrated with biased news that increasingly appealed to political extremes. We hypothesized that if people were presented with all the facts on news topics, they would trust the news more and reach logical conclusions on their own.
Since then we’ve built a community of thousands of readers all across the US, with subscribers in 3,000 zip-codes and in every state, that represent a wonderful cross-section of America—politically, economically, and culturally. And we’ve seen that the desire for trusted new sources is broad and deeply felt.
Today, I’m delighted to announce that Yahoo has acquired The Factual, which will allow us to bring credible news to millions of readers and have the kind of impact we always envisioned.
I’m particularly excited because of Yahoo’s management team’s commitment to provide its consumers with trusted information and the opportunity to be more informed about the content they consume. Yahoo’s brand is well positioned to deliver on this value and make the news more useful for everyone. This is a chance to see how The Factual’s technology, when applied to millions of users, can materially increase trust in the news. That was always the mission and this acquisition by Yahoo is the fastest path to accomplishing the mission.
For the near term, The Factual will continue to operate as is, while we explore how best to incorporate its features into Yahoo News. Ajoy Sojan, our CTO, and I will join Yahoo’s engineering and product teams in leadership roles.
There are many people to thank for helping us get to this point.
First and foremost, our readers. Your faith in The Factual, when we were only a newsletter (and a pretty rough one at that), was remarkably prescient. You read The Factual consistently, offered blunt and helpful criticism, and referred your friends and family to us, helping us grow rapidly. And then you supported us with a paid subscription that you renewed at a very high rate. Simply amazing. Thank you.
Next, our team. We have had the most remarkable people join the team, with an impressive set of complementary skills. The Factual has happy readers because of the care you took to refine every last detail. Thank you.
Finally, our investors. Over 20 angels and venture capitalists invested in us, many before we were even called The Factual. News is a tough sector for investors and yet you stepped up to support our idea. I am forever grateful for your support. Because of your bold investment, millions of people will now have access to news they can trust. Thank you.
We are in the early innings of rebuilding trust in the news. This next round at Yahoo promises to be the most exciting yet. I look forward to connecting with all of you there. Keep us honest as you’ve always done.
Arjun