Hunterbrook

  1. Home
  2. Wiki
Hunterbrook
Available inEnglish
HeadquartersNew York City
Country of originUnited States
Founder(s)Sam Koppelman
Nathaniel Horwitz
CEONathaniel Horwitz
Key peopleFitzann Reid (General Counsel)
IndustryJournalism
URLhttps://hntrbrk.com/
Launched2024

Hunterbrook is an investigative news outlet and investment firm. It was founded by Sam Koppelman and Nathaniel Horwitz in 2023.[1] Hunterbrook monetizes its reporting through financial trading and litigation.[2]

The company established a newsroom, Hunterbrook Media, and an investment firm, Hunterbrook Capital. [citation needed] It also created a litigation business to partner with law firms on cases enabled by the newsroom's reporting. [citation needed]

History

[edit]

Hunterbrook was launched in 2024 by Koppelman, Horwitz, Fitzann Reid, and Emily Pate. Koppelman and Horwitz met at The Harvard Crimson, the undergraduate newspaper of Harvard University, and founded the 501(c)(3) non-profit organization Mayday Health before starting Hunterbrook.[3][4][5]

The company's name is a portmanteau of Koppelman's middle name, Hunter, after the investigative journalist Hunter S. Thompson, and the last name of Horwitz's mother, the author and war journalist Geraldine Brooks.[3]

Hunterbrook received $10 million in seed funding from David Fialkow, Peter Kolchinsky, Marc Lasry, and Emerson Collective in 2023.[6][3] In 2025, it raised additional capital from the Ford Foundation and other investors at a $100 million valuation, double that of the seed round.[7] Its board of advisors includes Paul Steiger, William Cohan, Daniel Okrent, Bethany McLean, and Matt Murray.[8][9]

Hunterbrook has a unique arrangement, in which Hunterbrook Capital trades based on Hunterbrook Media's reporting. Hunterbrook Capital "takes both long and short positions on equities, plus invests in other asset classes like commodities and derivatives."[10][11] Hunterbrook Capital launched in 2023, then raised $100 million in April 2024.[12] To avoid regulatory issues, Hunterbrook Media does not rely on inside sources for reporting that Hunterbrook Capital trades on, and discloses positions at the fund related to articles.[6] The Financial Times reported that Hunterbrook's fund generated a 16 per cent return during the first half of 2025.[7]

Hunterbrook's first investigation focused on alleged fraud at United Wholesale Mortgage.[12][13] Based on the same data identified by Hunterbrook, the Ohio Attorney General sued UWM, which also faces a national class action RICO lawsuit by Boies Schiller Flexner on behalf of homebuyers. [citation needed]UWM described the lawsuit as a "sham" and accused Hunterbrook of being behind it.[14][15]

RV owners sued Winnebago Industries in a class action after Hunterbrook exposed a product defect.[16][17] Winnebago called Hunterbrook's claims "baseless."[18][19]

Hunterbrook compiled a report with the International Partnership for Human Rights and the Independent Anti-Corruption Commission revealing that components used to make Russian weaponry and used in attacks against Ukraine originate from American companies.[20][21]

On June 21, 2025 Hunterbrook broke the news that B-2 stealth bombers had launched from an Air Force base in Missouri, indicating the US would join Israel’s bombardment of Iran.[7][22][23]

Teradyne gained 6% when Hunterbrook's news room reported the company supplies robotic arms to Amazon and the fund disclosed a long position,[24][25] the same day Goldman Sachs began coverage of the company with a 'Sell' rating.[26] Later that month Teradyne gained 20% on earnings.[27][28]

Dexcom fell 10% when Hunterbrook's news room alleged problems with the company's continuous glucose monitor and the fund disclosed a short position.[29][30][31]

After the Trump Administration targeted a Federal Reserve governor and other political opponents for allegedly having more than one primary residence on their mortgage paperwork, ProPublica reported three Cabinet members have primary-residence mortgages on at least two properties according to real estate records and mortgage data from Hunterbrook.[32][33]

Reception and scrutiny

[edit]

Hunterbrook's business model has attracted scrutiny. The Nieman Foundation for Journalism called Hunterbrook "one of the most unusual experiments in media ethics."[34] It also said Hunterbrook's "reporting seems very strong, of the same caliber as what you'd find in top national business news outlets." Critics have argued that blurring the lines between reporting and revenue generation potentially violates longstanding journalistic norms.[6]

In May 2024, Hunterbrook generated controversy after Semafor reported that Koppelman had invested in ZBiotics, which Semafor called a competitor to anti-hangover drink Safety Shot, the subject of a Hunterbrook investigation. Koppelman and the founder of ZBiotics argued that Safety Shot was not a competitor. The FDA investigated Safety Shot whose stock fell more than 50% after the company pivoted to buying a meme coin called Bonk.[35][36][37]

The Bloomberg columnist Matt Levine proposed that "it could be in Hunterbrook’s long-term interest to invest in some investigations that are not actionable" if "those investigations build up audience and credibility for the news outlet,"[38] based on a Newsweek report on a Hunterbrook scoop about the Drake-Kendrick Lamar feud.[39]

The House Committee on Energy and Commerce urged Cabinet members to investigate BrainCo citing Hunterbrook's reporting with Pablo Torre Finds Out and New York Times' The Athletic alleging the company's brain-computer interface technology was secretly funded by entities linked to the Chinese government for potential military use.[40][41] The reporting claimed data included brainwaves from tennis star Jannik Sinner and racing driver Charles Leclerc.[42][43]

Axios reported "there's certainly no guarantee of success, but the idea is intriguing," and "whether or not Hunterbrook's output is journalism is a mostly theological question."[44]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ Franklin, Joshua; Duguid, Kate (2024-04-02). "News-powered hedge fund raises $100mn to trade on reporters' scoops". Financial Times. Retrieved 2025-07-06.
  2. ^ Levine, Matt (September 24, 2024). "The Chatbot Will Pick the Stocks". Bloomberg. Retrieved July 9, 2025.
  3. ^ a b c Malone, Clare (2024-05-02). "Is Hunterbrook Media a News Outlet or a Hedge Fund?". The New Yorker. ISSN 0028-792X. Retrieved 2025-04-30.
  4. ^ Alter, Charlotte (2022-12-09). "This Group Wants to Teach You How to Get Abortions Even Where They're Banned". TIME. Retrieved 2025-07-08.
  5. ^ Aymond, Natalie (2022-08-17). "Mayday, mayday, mayday: Abortion pills to the rescue". The Martha's Vineyard Times. Retrieved 2025-07-08.
  6. ^ a b c "This Hedge Fund Wants to Save Investigative Journalism — By Using It to Game the Market". POLITICO. 2024-05-25. Retrieved 2025-04-30.
  7. ^ a b c Thomas, Daniel; Duguid, Kate (2025-07-10). "News-powered hedge fund group Hunterbrook valued at $100mn". Financial Times. Retrieved 2025-07-13.
  8. ^ "Team". HUNTERBROOK. Retrieved 2025-04-30.
  9. ^ Franklin, Joshua; Duguid, Kate (2024-04-02). "News-powered hedge fund raises $100mn to trade on reporters' scoops". Financial Times. Retrieved 2025-07-09.
  10. ^ Primack, Dan (2023-11-02). "New hedge fund is hiring journalists to not do journalism". Axios. Retrieved 2025-07-09.
  11. ^ Franklin, Joshua; Duguid, Kate (2024-04-02). "News-powered hedge fund raises $100mn to trade on reporters' scoops". Financial Times. Retrieved 2025-07-09.
  12. ^ a b Malone, Clare (2024-05-02). "Is Hunterbrook Media a News Outlet or a Hedge Fund?". The New Yorker. ISSN 0028-792X. Retrieved 2025-07-09.
  13. ^ Levine, Matt (April 2, 2024). "Bloomberg: A Hedge Fund That's Also a Newspaper".
  14. ^ Scarcella, Mike (2024-04-03). "Mortgage lender United Wholesale sued by consumers alleging billions in excess fees". Reuters. Retrieved 2025-07-09.
  15. ^ "Ohio attorney general sues UWM, alleging 'predatory business practices'". Crain's Detroit Business. 2025-04-17. Retrieved 2025-07-06.
  16. ^ Alverez, Mathew (2025-04-15). "Class Action Lawsuit Alleges RV Giant Deceived Thousands With Defective Vehicles". Rockland Daily News. Retrieved 2025-08-12.
  17. ^ "Auble et al v. Winnebago Industries, INC. et al". Justia Dockets & Filings. Retrieved 2025-08-12.
  18. ^ "MSN". www.msn.com. Retrieved 2025-08-12.
  19. ^ Fineman, Joshua (2024-09-23). "Winnebago drops after short report from Hunterbrook".
  20. ^ "US electronic components still turning up in Russian fighter jets: Report". Newsweek. 2025-07-04. Retrieved 2025-07-09.
  21. ^ "Parts of the Problem: Tracing Western Tech in Russia's Deadliest Jets". IPHR. Retrieved 2025-07-09.
  22. ^ Smith, Ben (June 22, 2025). "Semafor Media: Intel".
  23. ^ Haberman, Maggie; Lum, Devon; Schmitt, Eric; Sanger, David E. (2025-06-21). "U.S. Deploys B-2 Bombers as Trump Plans to Meet National Security Team". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2025-07-13.
  24. ^ Conley, Jake (July 13, 2025). "Amazon boasts futuristic robots have 'a sense of touch.' Teradyne is key supplier behind this new innovation". AOL.
  25. ^ Amin, Sanmit (July 18, 2025). "Teradyne (TER) Tapped by Amazon as Warehouse Robot Supplier". Yahoo Finance.
  26. ^ "MSN". www.msn.com. Retrieved 2025-09-30.
  27. ^ Tatananni, Mackenzie. "Teradyne Stock Is the Top Performer in the S&P 500. Here's Why". barrons. Retrieved 2025-09-30.
  28. ^ Edt, 12:02 Pm. "Teradyne Stock Leads S&P 500 Gainers After Better-Than-Expected Results". Investopedia. Retrieved 2025-09-30.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  29. ^ "MSN". www.msn.com. Retrieved 2025-09-30.
  30. ^ Barnet, Thomas (2025-09-23). "DexCom comes under fire from accusations | MarketScreener". www.marketscreener.com. Retrieved 2025-09-30.
  31. ^ Strnad, Radek (September 19, 2025). "Why DexCom (DXCM) Shares Are Trading Lower Today". Yahoo Finance.
  32. ^ Aratani, Lauren (2025-09-05). "US justice department opens criminal inquiry into Fed governor Lisa Cook". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2025-09-30.
  33. ^ Mierjeski, Robert Faturechi,Justin Elliott,Alex (2025-09-04). "Trump Is Accusing Foes With Multiple Mortgages of Fraud. Records Show 3 of His Cabinet Members Have Them". ProPublica. Retrieved 2025-09-30.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  34. ^ Benton, Joshua (April 3, 2024). "A new kind of activist journalism: Hunterbrook investigates corporations (and hopes to make bank trading off its reporting)". NiemanLab.
  35. ^ "Short-selling news startup didn't disclose investment in anti-hangover drink | Semafor". Archived from the original on 2024-12-08. Retrieved 2025-04-30.
  36. ^ "Nasdaq-listed firm slumps 50% on BONK memecoin treasury play". Cointelegraph. 2025-08-12. Retrieved 2025-08-12.
  37. ^ Schultz, Clark (August 11, 2025). "Safety Shot slides after selecting memecoin BONK as its core treasury asset". Seeking Alpha.
  38. ^ Levine, Matt (May 7, 2024). "Bond Markets Are the New Stock Markets: Electronification, the private secondary market, Bill Hwang's motives and Hunterbrook's music section".
  39. ^ Member, Entertainment Reporter Newsweek Is A. Trust Project (2024-05-08). "Drake's "Silence Policy" shell corporation raises questions". Newsweek. Retrieved 2025-07-09.
  40. ^ "Guthrie wants probe of BrainCo". Punchbowl News. Retrieved 2025-09-30.
  41. ^ "Poaching Data, Little Dragon: Uncovering China's Secret War for Athlete Brainwaves | Pablo Torre Finds Out | Podcasts". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2025-09-30.
  42. ^ "Jannik Sinner's Brainwaves are Part of Pablo Torre's Latest Investigation". Serve On SI. 2025-09-16. Retrieved 2025-09-30.
  43. ^ Jogia, Saajan. "Chinese Firm Allegedly Using Leclerc's Brainwave Data for Military Use". Newsweek. Retrieved 2025-09-30.
  44. ^ Salmon, Felix (2023-11-04). "Why Hunterbrook wants to combine two worlds". Axios. Retrieved 2025-07-09.