(José Niño, Headline USA) The Daily Wire opened discussions to secure over $100 million in fresh capital while the conservative media powerhouse grapples with vanishing subscribers and costly programming failures, Semafor reported.
Highmount Capital, a firm founded by two Koch Industries veterans, leads negotiations for an investment round pricing Ben Shapiro’s 2015 venture at $750 million, internal documents reviewed by Semafor showed.
The company recorded $48 million in adjusted EBITDA during the previous year. Yet subscriber growth stalled entirely and customer retention faltered, according to the materials.
Membership losses proved devastating. Paid subscribers, accounting for about three quarters of total revenue, plummeted by one-third year-over-year in 2025, landing near 850,000 customers. Revenue from advertising, making up 20 percent of income, shrank annually since 2022.
Investment bankers representing Daily Wire received buyout proposals topping $1 billion but noted that founders “prefer to take a minority, aligned investment to grow the business,” per the documents. Those financial advisers projected a $2 billion public offering could happen “within approximately 18 months.”
Internal dysfunction compounded business problems. The company cut ties with CEO Jeremy Boreing last year following his push into high budget scripted entertainment. Shapiro simultaneously clashed publicly with ex-employee Candace Owens alongside other right wing media personalities such as Megyn Kelly, Tucker Carlson, and Steve Bannon.
A marquee production bombed badly. Highmount pointed to the Pendragon Cycle, an epic medieval drama that “did not fully resonate with the core Daily Wire audience” and “consumed the majority of the 2025 content budget, leaving fewer resources for new programming that could drive subscriber acquisition and marketing.” That misfire consumed $50 million.
Corporate reorganization saw Shapiro trade podcast income for enhanced equity ownership. The company aims to recruit five “emerging talents” for podcast and social media production.
Executives intend to copy the New York Times diversification approach. “The NYT has done an excellent job of expanding the value of its subscription beyond core news by adding games, cooking, Wirecutter product reviews, The Athletic, and audio content; creating multiple daily touchpoints that justify a premium price and reduce churn,” internal materials stated. “Daily Wire has the opportunity to follow a similar playbook for its audience.”
Investment in editorial operations will surge to $6.4 million yearly from $2.4 million as headcount expands to 67 from 22. Coverage areas will broaden from politics into breaking news, investigative journalism, national security, business, sports, health, and opinion.
The advertising climate offers encouragement. “The stigma that kept many mainstream brands from advertising on conservative media platforms during the 2020–2023 period has largely dissipated,” the memo observed. “The return of Fortune 500 advertisers validates the platform’s scale and audience quality.”
José Niño is the deputy editor of Headline USA. Follow him at x.com/JoseAlNino
