FreightWaves Inc. divesting media arm to focus on high-frequency data offering

FreightWaves, the leading provider of global intelligence to the supply chain industry, has decided to divest its media business to focus exclusively on its high-frequency global intelligence data offering, SONAR. 

FreightWaves media is not going away and will remain in familiar hands. 

Craig Fuller, the founder and CEO of FreightWaves Inc., has acquired FreightWaves media and will be consolidating it with FLYING Media Group (FMG), a media platform that serves the aviation and marine industries. 

FreightWaves media will continue to cover global supply chain news and information, working closely with SONAR for data and market intelligence. A long-dated data licensing relationship will exist between the two entities, ensuring that FreightWaves media enjoys the richness of SONAR’s high-frequency data in FreightWaves’ editorial offerings. 

As part of the transaction, FLYING Media Group, the new parent of FreightWaves media, will be rebranded as Firecrown. 

All of the FreightWaves media assets and staff will move over to Firecrown but will retain their specific identities. This includes FreighWaves.com, FreightWavesTV and American Shipper, among others. The FreightWaves editorial staff will continue to focus on supply chain coverage, but there will be opportunities for topical collaboration between the supply chain, aviation and marine teams on topics that impact those industries, such as the economy, technology, regulation, fuel and energy prices, sustainability and industrial supply chains. 

Additionally, FreightWaves media will greatly benefit from Firecrown’s media infrastructure, while Firecrown will be able to tap into FreightWaves’ very robust video production and streaming capabilities for aviation and marine. Additional investments in media platforms and infrastructure that will directly benefit FreightWaves are planned by Firecrown. 

Firecrown is now the largest media publisher of aviation, marine and supply chain news and content. With more than 170 employees and more than 100 contributors, the Firecrown platform is the largest transportation publishing platform on the globe. 

Over the past three years, Firecrown has acquired 35 brands in the enthusiast category, including FLYING, AvBuyer, AVweb, Yachting, Sailing World, Salt Water Sportsman, Sport Fishing and Boating. 

FreightWaves is the first business-to-business (B2B) acquisition for Firecrown and will serve as a platform for additional B2B expansion. 

More than 60 employees that work on the FreightWaves media platform will transition to Firecrown. The editors and journalists who cover global supply chain news will continue to represent themselves under the FreightWaves banner. 

Firecrown is growing quickly. 

From less than $3 million in revenues in 2021, it is on a run rate to do more than $50 million in revenue and $8 million in income for 2024. 

In the coming months, FreightWaves Inc. will be rebranded as SONAR and become a pure-play SaaS business, offering high-frequency data for global supply chains. In recent months, SONAR has been successful in winning new business from large shippers, 3PLs, and hedge funds all interested in using SONAR’s price reporting tools and analytics. 

Fuller will continue to serve as CEO of SONAR, with a renewed focus on product and innovation. 

In commenting about the transaction and structure, Fuller stated: 

“SONAR has reached sufficient scale, which has enabled it to stand on its own, without the need of FreightWaves media behind it. Post transaction, SONAR will have a large balance sheet that will enable it to make significant investments in its data platform offerings, with a more narrow focus that only being a pure-play SaaS offering can bring.

“With a narrowed focus as a SaaS company, the SONAR team should be able to deliver accelerated product growth and new organizational initiatives, without the distraction of a media and SaaS business as part of the same enterprise.”

In recent weeks, FreightWaves and SONAR have taken many steps to prepare the entities for the new structure, including the elimination of certain roles that were more meaningful in a combined entity. Additionally, layers of corporate structure were also removed to simplify reporting and decision-making more common with smaller companies. 

The companies do not anticipate any additional job reductions in the future, and the various management teams are focused entirely on driving growth for their respective businesses.   

Following the transaction, SONAR is forecasted to be a $30 million software business and Firecrown a $50 million media business. Both firms have strong balance sheets and focused management teams. 

Additional information on Firecrown is available at Firecrown.com. Information about FreightWaves SONAR can be found at sonar.freightwaves.com. 

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Editor: FreightWaves Staff