Fast Company

History

Fast Company was founded in November 1995 by Alan Webber and Bill Taylor, both former Harvard Business Review editors, and publisher Mortimer Zuckerman. Early competitors included Red Herring, Business 2.0 and The Industry Standard.

In 1997, Fast Company created an online social network called the "Company of Friends", which led to the formation of numerous meeting groups. At its peak, the Company of Friends comprised over 40,000 members across 120 cities, though membership declined to 8,000 by 2003.

In 2000, Zuckerman sold Fast Company to Gruner + Jahr, majority-owned by media giant Bertelsmann, for $550 million. The sale coincided with the dot-com bubble burst, resulting in substantial losses and a drop in circulation. Webber and Taylor departed in 2002, and John A. Byrne, formerly a senior writer and management editor at BusinessWeek, became the new editor. Under Byrne, the magazine received its first Gerald Loeb Award, a prestigious honor in business journalism. However, the magazine couldn't overcome its financial decline following the dot-com bust. Despite not focusing specifically on Internet commerce, advertising pages decreased to one-third of their 2000 levels.

In 2005, Gruner + Jahr put the magazine, along with Inc. magazine, up for sale. Byrne contacted entrepreneur Joe Mansueto and assisted him in the acquisition. A bidding war ensued between The Economist and Mansueto's company, Mansueto Ventures. Mansueto, promising to keep Fast Company afloat, won the contest, acquiring both magazine titles for $35 million. As of March 2025, advertising sales make up 55 percent of the company's revenue.

Under former editor-in-chief Robert Safian, Fast Company was recognized by the American Society of Magazine Editors with the magazine of the year in 2014.

Stephanie Mehta was appointed editor-in-chief in February 2018, after having worked at Vanity Fair, Bloomberg, Fortune, and The Wall Street Journal. Fast Company is owned by Mansueto Ventures and has its headquarters in Manhattan.

In September 2022, the Fast Company website, fastcompany.com, was compromised in an attack, and racist messages were sent to Apple iPhones. The site was accessed to send push notifications that the company identified as "obscene and racist". Consequently, the site was taken offline for eight days.

In 2024, the company won The Society Of Publication Designers silver medal for its "World Changing Ideas" and six gold medals for its projects, including "Selena Gomez and the Meteoric Rise of Rare Beauty", "YouTube’s Game Day", "Brands That Matter", "The Recommender Gift Guide", and gold in the Best Of Science/Business/Technology category, as well as for the redesign of the magazine, which launched with the Eva Longoria issue.

In March 2025, Fast Company and Inc. tightened their paywalls to grow consumer revenue amid traffic volatility, with four daily stories being reserved only for paying subscribers. Mehta said that "traffic is really fickle, and we have to find more ways to build a direct connection with our audiences." She also predicted Mansueto's consumer business (one-third of the company's overall annual revenue) to see double-digit growth in 2025. In June 2025, Mansueto Ventures laid off 13 employees, including numerous editors and reporters at Fast Company and Inc.

Website

Launched in 1995, FastCompany.com provides coverage of leadership and innovation in business, environmental and social issues, entertainment and marketing, and, through its Co.Design site, the intersection of business and design, spanning architecture to electronics and consumer products to fashion. Fast Company also previously managed sites called Co.Labs, Co.Exist, and Co.Create. Co.Exist and Co.Create were rebranded as Ideas and Entertainment sections in 2017. Co.Labs was discontinued in early 2015.

Franchises

Fast Company runs several franchises, including "Most Innovative Companies", "World Changing Ideas", "Innovation By Design", and "Most Creative People". For its Most Innovative Companies feature, Fast Company evaluates thousands of businesses to compile a list of 50 companies deemed the most innovative. The Most Creative People in Business is a list of 100 individuals across various industries.

References

References

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2. Gagne, Yasmin. (2025-03-18). "The most innovative companies in media and news for 2025". Fast Company.
3. "Fast Company Podcast Network".
4. "Introducing Compass, a new newsletter from Fast Company".
5. Vanderbilt, Tom. (March 5, 2000). "The capitalist cell". [[The New York Times]].
6. Alex French. "The Very First Issues of 19 Famous Magazines". Mental Floss.
7. (March 1, 2006). "A Brief History of Our Time". Fast Company.
8. [http://www.fastcompany.com/about-us "About Us"]. ''Fast Company''. Retrieved February 27, 2012.
9. (February 2001). "Business 2.0 is put up for sale". [[Media Life Magazine]].
10. Alex Kuczynski. (December 14, 1998). "Cultivating A Cult Audience; ''Fast Company'' Magazine Takes 'Community of Readers' Idea To New Extremes". The New York Times.
11. (August 11, 2003). "Fast Company's New Life in the Slow Lane". The New York Times.
12. (May 2005). "Bertelsmann to Exit U.S. Magazine Market". [[The New York Times]].
13. Friedman, Jon. "Fast Company finally gets some 'help'".
14. Seelye, Katherine Q. (June 21, 2005). [https://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/21/business/worldbusiness/21iht-mag.html?_r=1 "Gruner + Jahr sells 2 U.S. magazines"]. ''The New York Times''.
15. Guaglione, Sara. (2025-03-26). "Fast Company and Inc. tighten up paywalls to grow consumer revenue amid traffic volatility".
16. Roush, Chris. (2025-03-26). "Fast Company/Inc. tighten paywalls".
17. (January 2007). "Breaking: Bob Safian Named Editor/Managing Director of Fast Company". [[Adweek]].
18. (May 1, 2014). "National Magazine Awards 2014 Winners Announced". American Society of Magazine Editors.
19. (February 2018). "Breaking: Fast Company Names Stephanie Mehta Editor-in-Chief". [[Folio (magazine).
20. "Media company hacked, racist push notifications sent to Apple iPhones". [[The Washington Post]].
21. (September 28, 2022). "Fast Company shuts website after hack sends 'obscene' Apple News notifications". [[Reuters]].
22. (2022-10-06). "Fast Company returns after attack that saw obscene Apple News alerts pushed to readers". Engadget.
23. (June 14, 2024). "The Society of Publication Designers Announces the 59th Annual Awards Winners".
24. Guaglione, Sara. (2025-03-26). "Fast Company and Inc. tighten up paywalls to grow consumer revenue amid traffic volatility".
25. Guaglione, Sara. (2025-03-26). "Fast Company and Inc. tighten up paywalls to grow consumer revenue amid traffic volatility".
26. Guaglione, Sara. (2025-03-26). "Fast Company and Inc. tighten up paywalls to grow consumer revenue amid traffic volatility".
27. Roush, Chris. (2025-06-04). "Inc., Fast Company parent has laid off 7% of staff".
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29. (June 2, 1995). "Some News From Your Friends At Co.Exist". ICANN WhoIs.
30. (March 22, 2017). "A Message To Our Readers". fastcompany.com.
31. (March 24, 2015). "What's Next For Co.Labs?".
32. (February 18, 2010). "Most Innovative Companies: Top 10 by Industry". Fast Company website.
33. [http://www.fastcompany.com/most-creative-people/2012 "The Most Creative People in Business 2012"]. ''Fast Company''. 2012.