BUSINESS

44 | DECEMBER 16 • 2021

I

n late October, it was
announced that Detroit-
based financial media plat-
form and analytics business
Benzinga was majority acquired
at a nine-digit valuation by
private equity firm Beringer
Capital.
Benzinga founder/CEO Jason
Raznick refers to this phase of
Benzinga as entering its “second
inning” of what they will build.
“Created by the people for
the people,” the tech-enabled
Benzinga delivers dynamic
news, investment analytics and
market information. Benzinga’s
editorial coverage spans tradi-
tional financial markets, poli-
tics, biotech, cannabis, crypto-
currencies and more.
The partnership with
Beringer is meant to accelerate
Benzinga’s “mission to level the
playing field” for individual
investors.
Benzinga was born out of
the Great Recession in 2010,
and Raznick has since built
Benzinga to be a resource wide-
ly used by individual investors.
Its staff of more than 100 deliv-
ers insights to nearly 25 million
readers each month, spanning
more than 125 countries world-
wide.
Raznick will retain a signifi-
cant stake in the company and
continue to play a key leader-
ship role in charting Benzinga’s
future growth and vision.

Raznick makes a concert-
ed effort to put his name as
co-founder of Benzinga, even
though he founded the compa-
ny himself.
“I think the company is
co-founded every day by the
team members who are there
and come up with new ideas
and new ways to do things,” he
says. “When I say the ‘second
inning,’ I just think we’re at the
very beginning stages of our
company. There’s a lot of things
to improve in the world to make
people’s way of getting investing
information easier.”
Raznick says this move and
Benzinga’s work with Beringer
will reflect that “second inning”
in many ways for investors,
including working toward more
thorough personalization efforts
and understanding that better,
using AI-type features, thinking

about other content-vertical
coverage that people in the
investment world participate in
such as alternative investments
and sports betting, and other
verticals that will play a role as
well.
For Raznick, starting and
growing Benzinga in Detroit is a
huge badge of honor.
“I started this business in
my basement with basically no
money and, to sell at this price,
it’s amazing,” he says. “
A lot of
investors wanted us to move
to New York, and I had offers,
but I chose to stay here because
I said, ‘Instead of just building
a company, why not build a
company and impact a city at
the same time?’ It’s awesome to
build here. I think it’s an under-
dog-type story.”

JEWISH ROOTS
Benzinga’s beginnings have
Jewish ties besides Raznick
being Jewish himself. After
starting the company in
the basement of a rental in
Birmingham, Scott Kaufman,
former CEO of the Jewish
Federation of Metropolitan
Detroit, gave Raznick subsi-
dized office space in Bingham
Farms in the Farbman Group
building. For about the first year
Benzinga existed, the company
was there.

“Without that, we never
would have had office space and
I may have moved, so I think
Scott Kaufman and the Jewish
Federation helped in that,”
Raznick said.
In relation, Raznick recently
set up a generous nonprofit
hosted at Federation — the
Jason & Stacey Raznick
Foundation.
“They helped me when I
started the business, so I want-
ed to pay it back and host this
there,” Raznick said. “I really
want to help give access to
people who don’t have access
to things, I think a lot of life is
access and learning, so I want
to give that to people who don’t
have it, and then to help where
I can. My grandfather taught
me that life is more about giving
than receiving.”
Along with significant
growth and finding great tal-
ent, Raznick’s biggest goal for
Benzinga is to make millions of
people’s investment lives easier
on a daily basis.
“What we do today might not
be what we’re doing tomorrow;
we’re always looking for new
ideas,” Raznick said. “Don’t
think of what we do today as
who we are; we’re a place that
looks to find a better way and
creates stuff from scratch.”

Founder Jason Raznick to retain
significant stake and play a key
leadership role.

Benzinga Majority
Acquired by
Beringer Capital

DANNY SCHWARTZ STAFF WRITER

Jason Raznick

The Benzinga office