History of Business Wire

Business Wire opened its door for business on October 2, 1961. At that time, there were 1 1/4 employees (founder Lorry Lokey was the full timer) and one office that has been described as the size of a broom closet.

On the first day of business, there were seven pre-signed members, and all seven sent releases that day. The one circuit offered covered media from Marin county, just north of San Francisco to Santa Clara county, 50 miles south of San Francisco. And it reached 16 print, broadcast and wire service media points. Four months later, in January, 1962, Business Wire had its first profitable month and never looked back.

In the 1960s Business Wire continued to grow on all fronts. The media reach greatly increased, within the United States and worldwide by forming affiliations with other wires. The speed of sending the copy out to the media increased to 100 words per minute in 1967, the ultimate speed in those days. And a second Business Wire office opened in Los Angeles that same year. By the end of the '60s, Business Wire employed approximately 15 employees and had more than 300 companies as members. In the 1970s expansion continued with offices opening in Seattle and Boston. Business Wire was the first to establish satellite-to-computer delivery of news releases via the Associated Press DataFeature circuit - at a whopping 1200 words per minute! The decade ended with Business Wire transmitting its news to more states via satellite, and installing its first computer - a Honeywell the size of two breadboxes.

The 1980s started off with a big bang, by opening a New York office. It was a decade of huge growth in terms of offices for the company, with a total of 10 openings (Charlotte, Nashville, Miami, Phoenix, Cleveland, San Diego, Philadelphia, Santa Clara and Newport Beach). The '80s also featured the addition of special circuits, such as AnalystWire and SportsWire. Affiliations in France and Japan also were formed.

By 1990 Business Wire had 150 employees in 16 offices and revenues of $14 million. A year later, Business Wire celebrated its 30th anniversary. The San Francisco office moved "upstairs" to the 39th floor of its financial district headquarters and commanded a stunning 360 degree view of the city and surrounding Bay Area. Innovation continued during this decade, with Business Wire being the first to use AP PhotoExpress service for commercial photo satellite delivery (1993) and the first commercial newswire to launch a website (1995). By the end of this decade, Business Wire had 26 offices, more than 400 employees and $40 million in revenue.

Business Wire began the 21st century by establishing overseas offices in Belgium, London and Frankfurt. Innovations continued at the company: Business Wire was the first newswire to offer EDGAR (SEC) filings to its public company clients. In September, 2003, Business Wire went live with NX, its proprietary Internet platform that delivers multimedia content in NewsML format. The revolutionary, state-of-the-art communications platform delivers encrypted releases simultaneously to the global news media at Internet speed, and is the latest example of Business Wire's technical innovation and leadership within the commercial news industry. It was awarded a patent by the US Patent Office in 2006.

On March 1, 2006 Business Wire officially became a wholly owned subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway, a NYSE-listed company (Fortune 12) that is controlled by Warren Buffett. As a wholly-owned subsidiary Business Wire is able to draw upon the substantial financial and management resources of B/H, while retaining its corporate commitment to client services, editorial integrity and industry innovation. Day-to-day operations were unchanged by the acquisition.