VandeHei said he wanted
Axios to be a "mix between
The Economist and
Twitter", which attracted criticism. The company initially covered a mix of business, politics, technology, health care, and media. VandeHei said
Axios would focus on the "collision between tech and areas such as bureaucracy, healthcare, energy, and the transportation infrastructure". In 2016,
Axios secured $10 million in a round of financing led by Lerer Hippeau Ventures. Backers include media-partner
NBC News,
Laurene Powell Jobs'
Emerson Collective,
Greycroft Partners, and David and Katherine Bradley, owners of
Atlantic Media. It planned to focus on "business, technology, politics, and media trends". It earned more than $10 million in revenue in its first seven months.
Axios had 6 million unique visitors in September 2017, according to
Comscore. ,
Axios said it had 200,000 subscribers to 11 newsletters, with an average open rate of 52 percent. The same month, it said it would use a new $20 million investment to expand data analysis, product development, fund audience growth, and increase staff to 150, up from 89. In March and April 2019,
HuffPost and
Wired reported that
Axios had paid a firm to improve its reputation by lobbying for changes to the
Wikipedia articles on
Axios and
Jonathan Swan. In July 2020, under the
first presidency of Donald Trump,
Axios received $4.8 million in federal loans from the
Paycheck Protection Program for salary replacement during the
COVID-19 pandemic. It later returned the money, with VandeHei explaining that the loans had become "politically polarizing". In September 2020,
The Wall Street Journal reported that
Axios was on track to be profitable in 2020 "despite the economic turmoil stemming from the coronavirus that led to broad layoffs and pay cuts at many media outlets". In May 2021,
The Wall Street Journal reported that merger discussions between
Axios and
The Athletic had ended, with
The Athletic opting to pursue a deal with
The New York Times. On August 8, 2022,
Axios announced that it had been sold to
Cox Enterprises for $525 million. As part of the transaction, Axios spun out
Axios HQ as a separate software company. According to the deal, Cox owns 70% of the company, while
Axios employees and its founders retain ownership of the remaining 30%. The company has also focused on growing its events business. In March 2023,
Axios fired Ben Montgomery, a
Pulitzer Prize finalist, after he described as "propaganda" a Florida Department of Education press release about an event hosted by Governor
Ron DeSantis "exposing the diversity equity and inclusion scam in higher education". In August 2024,
Axios laid off 50 employees, which amounted to 10% of total staff. == Content ==