The Indianapolis Business Journal (IBJ) is a weekly newspaper published in Indianapolis. It is the leading publication of IBJ Media. St. Louis businessman Mark Vittert and Indianapolis entrepreneur , founder of the College Life Insurance Company, formed Business Journal Publications and launched its first publication, IBJ, in May 1980. That fall the newspaper group used the weekly as its prototype to launch five additional business journals in St. Louis, Philadelphia Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, and Baltimore.
By May 1985 Business Journal Publications redesigned the IBJ to mimic the and upgraded its appearance with the addition of spot color and an updated banner. IBJ acquired , a legal daily, which later became the . Readers responded to the updated look and additional content with IBJ subscriptions reaching 15,000 by the decade’s end.
Though circulation increased, Vittert and Burkhart sold IBJ and other holdings to American City Business Journals (ACBJ), a Kansas City, Missouri, company for $40 million in November 1986. ACBJ acquired 19 additional newspapers from Scripps Howard, giving it a presence in 35 markets. Losses in the 1987 stock market crash prompted ACBJ to sell IBJ and the to Minneapolis-based publisher MCP. Within a few years, IBJ launched .
In 1990 Mickey Maurer and Bob Schloss purchased the IBJ Corporation, returning it to local ownership. In 1996 IBJ launched its first and still most popular email newsletter, . Maurer and Schloss launched Contract Publishing, later renamed IBJ Custom Publishing, in 1998 to provide design and production services for other companies and organizations.
In 2000 the fax product’s name changed to , a newsletter that subscribers received via email, though distribution via fax continued for several years. More than a decade later in 2013, IBJ launched its Eight@8 newsletter, a conception of creator Mason King, which became one of its most popular emails. It also created the North of 96th Street bureau to cover , the first of many regional bureau offices aimed at covering content in the Indianapolis donut counties as well as other counties. With the popularity of its web products, non-subscriber access to IBJ.com was restricted through a paywall in 2014.
With both Maurer and Schloss in their mid-70s in 2017, IBJ Corporation, parent of and IBJ took on a new owner. Maurer and Schloss announced former Indiana commerce secretary Nate Feltman as their new equal partner, acquiring one-third ownership. Maurer retained his role managing partner yet alluded to the possibility of Feltman eventually becoming the company’s majority shareholder.
After Feltman’s addition to the organization, IBJ added several features including an expanded stocks page and a workplace column. It also launched the IBJ Podcast, in 2018, with Mason King as host and moved to the Indianapolis Power and Light building on Monument Circle in 2019.
2020 ushered in many changes for IBJ. became a section of IBJ and moved from publishing three times a week to once per week. Feltman increased his ownership to 50 percent with Maurer and Schloss retaining one-quarter ownership each. Feltman also took on the role of CEO of IBJ Media. Longtime publisher Greg Morris retired after 30 years with IBJ Media, leading Feltman to assume the role of publisher of IBJ and in addition to CEO. Under Feltman’s aegis, IBJ hit record subscriptions by December 2020.
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