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