Sherwood Media, the new publishing subsidiary of Robinhood, hired a head of sales to help fulfill the company’s ambition to build a full-fledged media brand that will monetize through advertising, events and branded content. James Denis joins the company from Vox Media, where he was most recently the VP of global partnerships and strategy.
In a statement, Denis said that 60% of the readership of Snacks, Robinhood’s flagship newsletter, is under the age of 44. “Sherwood is uniquely positioned to help educate and inform this audience as their financial journey evolves–through new jobs, purchase of a home, and other major life events–with a slate of new editorial products. We’re building a modern media company that will deliver the latest business and markets news and analysis to people how they want and where they want, giving partners more opportunities to reach young investors,” he said.
The announcement offered more hints on what’s coming up at Sherwood, including a print magazine, in-person conferences and podcasts.
In a post on LinkedIn, Denis added more color to what’s happening at Sherwood: “[The investor audience that Robinhood attracts] doesn’t march to the beat of legacy media, tabloid clickbait, bad cable television, or talking heads with nothing to actually say. If money and culture are a story intrinsically tied together, we also need to reimagine who tells that story.”
As we covered earlier, Robinhood has touted Sherwood’s “independence” from day one, pointing out that the subsidiary is legally its own entity, and promising it will operate independently. The company also published a set of “editorial principles,” which offer some more hints on what independence will mean for the brand publication.
Sherwood Media, which was officially unveiled in January, is Robinhood’s attempt at creating a true media brand. It will house its news and information divisions, and build on Snacks, its popular finance newsletter. It’s headed up by Joshua Topolsky, a news media veteran who co-founded The Verge and its parent company, Vox Media.
Advertising and sponsorship are a priority for the new publishing brand, with a prominent “advertise with us” label appearing on Sherwood’s holding page. This could enable Robinhood to build a new revenue stream from its media footprint (something more companies with content operations are trying to do) and potentially help it offset some of the revenue declines the fintech sector has been struggling with recently.
Recently, Sherwood also published a host of open roles for the new brand, including for an executive editor. “Experience collaborating with business leadership in ad-run business models” is a component of some of the postings. The company is also hiring for a “client success manager” who will oversee the ad opportunities, which, based on the posting, will include newsletter sponsorships, native advertising, branded content, display media and experiential.