# Hunterbrook

**Hunterbrook** is a New York-based company operating two affiliated entities under common control: Hunterbrook Media, an investigative newsroom, and Hunterbrook Capital, an SEC exempt reporting adviser that operates a hedge fund that trades on the newsroom's reporting.<sup>[15](https://reports.adviserinfo.sec.gov/reports/ADV/330338/PDF/330338.pdf)</sup> Announced in November 2023, the venture funds journalism from hedge-fund profits rather than subscriptions, advertising, or donors, and it is legally structured so that the fund's trading performance, not media revenue, carries the business.<sup>[1](https://altss.com/profile/hunterbrook-capital-lp)</sup><sup> • </sup><sup>[2](https://www.axios.com/2023/11/02/hunterbrook-hedge-fund-journalists)</sup>

| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Structure | Two entities under common control: Hunterbrook Media (newsroom) and Hunterbrook Capital (fund); revenue depends on fund trading, not subscriptions or advertising<sup>[1](https://altss.com/profile/hunterbrook-capital-lp)</sup> |
| Founded | Announced November 2023 by Sam Koppelman and Nathaniel Horwitz, who met at the Harvard Crimson<sup>[2](https://www.axios.com/2023/11/02/hunterbrook-hedge-fund-journalists)</sup><sup> • </sup><sup>[3](https://www.newyorker.com/news/annals-of-communications/is-hunterbrook-media-a-news-outlet-or-a-hedge-fund)</sup> |
| Fund launch | Hunterbrook Capital launched with $100 million as a long-short fund trading equities, currencies, and commodities<sup>[4](https://www.afr.com/companies/media-and-marketing/news-powered-hedge-fund-raises-100m-to-trade-on-reporters-scoops-20240403-p5fh42)</sup><sup> • </sup><sup>[5](https://www.businessinsider.com/hunterbrook-capital-news-hybrid-hedge-fund-2024-4)</sup> |
| SEC status | New York investment adviser is an SEC exempt reporting adviser since 2024, CRD number 330338<sup>[1](https://altss.com/profile/hunterbrook-capital-lp)</sup> |
| Journalist pay | Base salaries of at least $100,000 plus a year-end slice of fund profits<sup>[3](https://www.newyorker.com/news/annals-of-communications/is-hunterbrook-media-a-news-outlet-or-a-hedge-fund)</sup> |
| Prepublication flow | Stories cleared of non-public information are shared with the fund before publication; in the UWM case the fund was informed nearly two weeks ahead<sup>[3](https://www.newyorker.com/news/annals-of-communications/is-hunterbrook-media-a-news-outlet-or-a-hedge-fund)</sup> |
| First major impact | April 2024 UWM investigation; UWM stock finished the day down 8.5%<sup>[6](https://www.niemanlab.org/2024/04/a-new-kind-of-activist-journalism-hunterbrook-investigates-corporations-and-hopes-to-make-bank-trading-off-its-reporting/)</sup> |
| Profitability claim | The company stated in its 2025 newsletter that the funding model proved profitable within 18 months of launch<sup>[7](https://newsletter.hntrbrk.com/p/2025-2026)</sup> |

## What Hunterbrook is

Hunterbrook was announced in November 2023 as a venture-backed hedge fund promising to hire scores of former reporters and to publish all of their work, even when it does not result in investments.<sup>[2](https://www.axios.com/2023/11/02/hunterbrook-hedge-fund-journalists)</sup> Its co-founders met at the Harvard Crimson. [Sam Koppelman](https://www.edgepedia.org/sam-koppelman) is a writer and political operative; [Nathaniel Horwitz](https://www.edgepedia.org/nathaniel-horwitz), the chief executive, spent a few years after Harvard with a Boston-based investment firm specializing in biotech startups.<sup>[3](https://www.newyorker.com/news/annals-of-communications/is-hunterbrook-media-a-news-outlet-or-a-hedge-fund)</sup> Early backers named by Axios included Point72, where Horwitz once worked, Outside the Box Investments, and angels David Fialkow of General Catalyst and Marc Lasry of Avenue Capital; former Wall Street Journal editor-in-chief Matt Murray advises the company.<sup>[2](https://www.axios.com/2023/11/02/hunterbrook-hedge-fund-journalists)</sup>

The stated thesis is that hedge-fund profits can pay for journalism that, in turn, generates trading ideas for the fund. Axios reported in November 2023 that this business model had never really taken off before.<sup>[8](https://www.axios.com/2023/11/04/hunterbrook-hedge-funds-journalism)</sup> Hunterbrook Media takes no ads, paywalls, donors, or high-dollar events.<sup>[7](https://newsletter.hntrbrk.com/p/2025-2026)</sup>

## How the model works

**The information pipeline.** Hunterbrook Media's reporters investigate companies and produce stories. Before publication, the firm's general counsel reviews each story to make sure it contains no insider information, such as leaked earnings figures; stories that pass review are shared with Hunterbrook Capital prepublication, and fund investors cover the research costs.<sup>[5](https://www.businessinsider.com/hunterbrook-capital-news-hybrid-hedge-fund-2024-4)</sup> [The New Yorker](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-new-yorker)'s account describes the same gatekeeping through a person named Reid, who determines whether a story contains compromising non-public information; in the UWM investigation the fund was informed nearly two weeks before publication.<sup>[3](https://www.newyorker.com/news/annals-of-communications/is-hunterbrook-media-a-news-outlet-or-a-hedge-fund)</sup> The company's own disclosure states that when reporting does not include material non-public information, it may be shared with the affiliated fund, and relevant investments are disclosed in articles.<sup>[9](https://hntrbrk.com/about-us)</sup>

**Compensation.** Journalists are paid a base salary, with no one making less than $100,000, and receive a slice of the fund's profits at year end, so their upside is tied to fund performance.<sup>[3](https://www.newyorker.com/news/annals-of-communications/is-hunterbrook-media-a-news-outlet-or-a-hedge-fund)</sup> Errors in an article can trigger a clawback of a bonus, according to Horwitz.<sup>[3](https://www.newyorker.com/news/annals-of-communications/is-hunterbrook-media-a-news-outlet-or-a-hedge-fund)</sup> Journalists can also file SEC whistle-blower reports; when SEC monetary sanctions exceed $1 million, eligible whistle-blowers may receive 10 to 30 percent of the sanctions collected.<sup>[3](https://www.newyorker.com/news/annals-of-communications/is-hunterbrook-media-a-news-outlet-or-a-hedge-fund)</sup>

**Firewalls.** The company states that Hunterbrook Media's reporting may drive Hunterbrook Capital's investments, but the fund's investments must never drive the newsroom's reporting, and reporters must not interfere with fund operations.<sup>[9](https://hntrbrk.com/about-us)</sup> It also states that it does not pay sources and does not let sources pay it.<sup>[9](https://hntrbrk.com/about-us)</sup> Hunterbrook employs three full-time investigators, two of whom come from intelligence-analysis rather than journalism backgrounds, and monitors employees' Slack messages and emails to avoid receiving non-public information.<sup>[3](https://www.newyorker.com/news/annals-of-communications/is-hunterbrook-media-a-news-outlet-or-a-hedge-fund)</sup>

## Notable reporting and trades

A widely covered trade followed an April 2024 investigation into United Wholesale Mortgage (UWM). UWM stock finished the day down 8.5%, but attribution is difficult: the stock had already fallen 10.4% between Monday morning and the story's publication on Tuesday, and it dropped 4% in the ten minutes after the story was tweeted at 12:20 p.m. before regaining that 4% by 12:50. The next morning it traded at $6.05, down 6.2% since publication and 16% since Monday morning; rival Rocket Mortgage fell 1.4% since publication over the same period.<sup>[6](https://www.niemanlab.org/2024/04/a-new-kind-of-activist-journalism-hunterbrook-investigates-corporations-and-hopes-to-make-bank-trading-off-its-reporting/)</sup>

Not every investigation becomes a trade. As of April 2024, fewer than half of Hunterbrook Media's investigations had turned into trades.<sup>[5](https://www.businessinsider.com/hunterbrook-capital-news-hybrid-hedge-fund-2024-4)</sup> Horwitz has pointed to stories the fund did not trade on, including investigations into companies doing business with Myanmar's junta.<sup>[3](https://www.newyorker.com/news/annals-of-communications/is-hunterbrook-media-a-news-outlet-or-a-hedge-fund)</sup> In 2025 the company said Hunterbrook Media published dozens of investigations with impact across healthcare, housing, and the environment.<sup>[7](https://newsletter.hntrbrk.com/p/2025-2026)</sup>

## By the numbers

Hunterbrook Capital launched with $100 million, described as a long-short fund placing trades based on the newsroom's reporting, with plans to trade equities, currencies, and commodities; Horwitz decides positions and sizing.<sup>[4](https://www.afr.com/companies/media-and-marketing/news-powered-hedge-fund-raises-100m-to-trade-on-reporters-scoops-20240403-p5fh42)</sup><sup> • </sup><sup>[5](https://www.businessinsider.com/hunterbrook-capital-news-hybrid-hedge-fund-2024-4)</sup> The fund is a New York exempt reporting adviser with the SEC since 2024, with CRD number 330338 and SEC file number 802-130191, reporting private funds.<sup>[1](https://altss.com/profile/hunterbrook-capital-lp)</sup>

Staffing is asymmetric. The fund's only full-time employee was head trader Courtney Dunlevie, formerly of [Morgan Stanley](https://www.edgepedia.org/morgan-stanley) and Commonstock, while Hunterbrook Media had a full-time staff of seven plus dozens of freelancers and part-time editors.<sup>[5](https://www.businessinsider.com/hunterbrook-capital-news-hybrid-hedge-fund-2024-4)</sup> The New Yorker reported a single trader, an alum of Morgan Stanley, and a base-salary floor of $100,000 for journalists.<sup>[3](https://www.newyorker.com/news/annals-of-communications/is-hunterbrook-media-a-news-outlet-or-a-hedge-fund)</sup>

## How it compares with activist short sellers

Bloomberg Opinion columnist Matt Levine characterized Hunterbrook as essentially an activist short-selling fund like [Hindenburg Research](https://www.edgepedia.org/hindenburg-research): it investigates companies, finds problems, shorts the companies, and then noisily publishes its investigation. The difference, in his view, is that Hindenburg is straightforwardly a short-selling firm, whereas Hunterbrook's news site is at least theoretically independent of its hedge fund and could become more widely read and trusted if it publishes enough general news.<sup>[10](https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2024-04-02/a-hedge-fund-that-s-also-a-newspaper)</sup> Levine also described the model as a newsroom with no paywall and no advertising that sends each investigative piece to the affiliated fund prepublication so it can trade on the news.<sup>[10](https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2024-04-02/a-hedge-fund-that-s-also-a-newspaper)</sup>

Horwitz rejects the short-seller label. He argues Hunterbrook is not a short-selling firm because it sometimes goes long, publishes stories without trading on them, and reaches out to targets in good faith.<sup>[3](https://www.newyorker.com/news/annals-of-communications/is-hunterbrook-media-a-news-outlet-or-a-hedge-fund)</sup> [The Wall Street Journal](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-wall-street-journal) likewise reported that the fund has found good news can be profitable, meaning it does not only take short positions.<sup>[11](https://www.wsj.com/finance/investing/hunterbrook-capital-journalism-hedge-fund-81adedf8)</sup> A business-law scholar writing in November 2023 judged the model, which publishes research through a news arm while going long as well as short, to be legal under current securities law because the entity generates its own in-house information; activist short sellers, by contrast, publish reports less formalized as journalism and only for shorting purposes.<sup>[12](https://www.businesslawprofessors.com/2023/11/sell-the-news/)</sup>

## Criticism and controversy

**Ethics critique.** Kelly McBride of the [Poynter Institute](https://www.edgepedia.org/poynter-institute), a journalism-ethics scholar, argued that the model's loyalty is misdirected: "You're not primarily serving any particular audience... You're primarily serving your investors in your hedge fund."<sup>[3](https://www.newyorker.com/news/annals-of-communications/is-hunterbrook-media-a-news-outlet-or-a-hedge-fund)</sup> She also noted that Hunterbrook does not disclose the investors in its hedge fund, a departure from standard journalism conflict-disclosure practice.<sup>[3](https://www.newyorker.com/news/annals-of-communications/is-hunterbrook-media-a-news-outlet-or-a-hedge-fund)</sup>

**UWM's response.** In its response to the April 2024 story, UWM went further, stating that "A hedge fund scheme using journalists to short a stock is not only unethical, it may be" illegal.<sup>[3](https://www.newyorker.com/news/annals-of-communications/is-hunterbrook-media-a-news-outlet-or-a-hedge-fund)</sup>

**Disclosure lapses.** In May 2024, Semafor reported that a Hunterbrook story did not disclose that Koppelman holds a small personal stake in ZBiotics, a supplement startup in the same space as a company Hunterbrook covered; Koppelman acknowledged the stake after Semafor reviewed documents showing the investment. Semafor also observed that Hunterbrook's stories come with massive disclaimers and disclosures in multiple parts.<sup>[13](https://www.semafor.com/article/05/12/2024/short-selling-news-startup-didnt-disclose-investment-in-anti-hangover-drink)</sup>

**Legal defense.** In October 2024, a law firm press release defended Hunterbrook against insider-trading concerns by arguing a very narrow definition of "coordinating with a hedge fund," while acknowledging that whether regulators would see the model as insider trading remained to be seen.<sup>[14](https://dealbreaker.com/2024/10/law-firm-pushing-very-narrow-definition-of-coordinating-with-a-hedge-fund)</sup>

## Recent developments

The timeline runs from the November 2023 announcement<sup>[2](https://www.axios.com/2023/11/02/hunterbrook-hedge-fund-journalists)</sup> through its filing as an SEC exempt reporting adviser and the $100 million raise in 2024,<sup>[1](https://altss.com/profile/hunterbrook-capital-lp)</sup><sup> • </sup><sup>[6](https://www.niemanlab.org/2024/04/a-new-kind-of-activist-journalism-hunterbrook-investigates-corporations-and-hopes-to-make-bank-trading-off-its-reporting/)</sup> the UWM investigation in April 2024,<sup>[6](https://www.niemanlab.org/2024/04/a-new-kind-of-activist-journalism-hunterbrook-investigates-corporations-and-hopes-to-make-bank-trading-off-its-reporting/)</sup> and the launch of Hunterbrook Law, a litigation firm that can use the newsroom's reporting as the basis of lawsuits against bad actors.<sup>[7](https://newsletter.hntrbrk.com/p/2025-2026)</sup> In its 2025 newsletter, the company stated that its funding model proved profitable within 18 months of launch.<sup>[7](https://newsletter.hntrbrk.com/p/2025-2026)</sup>

## References

1. [Hunterbrook Capital LP — regulatory profile, AltSS](https://altss.com/profile/hunterbrook-capital-lp)
2. [New hedge fund is hiring journalists to not do journalism, Axios](https://www.axios.com/2023/11/02/hunterbrook-hedge-fund-journalists)
3. [Is Hunterbrook Media a News Outlet or a Hedge Fund?, The New Yorker](https://www.newyorker.com/news/annals-of-communications/is-hunterbrook-media-a-news-outlet-or-a-hedge-fund)
4. [News-powered hedge fund raises $100m to trade on reporters' scoops, Australian Financial Review](https://www.afr.com/companies/media-and-marketing/news-powered-hedge-fund-raises-100m-to-trade-on-reporters-scoops-20240403-p5fh42)
5. [How News-Driven Hunterbrook Capital Invests, Business Insider](https://www.businessinsider.com/hunterbrook-capital-news-hybrid-hedge-fund-2024-4)
6. [A new kind of activist journalism: Hunterbrook investigates corporations, Nieman Lab](https://www.niemanlab.org/2024/04/a-new-kind-of-activist-journalism-hunterbrook-investigates-corporations-and-hopes-to-make-bank-trading-off-its-reporting/)
7. [2025 → 2026, Hunterbrook Media newsletter](https://newsletter.hntrbrk.com/p/2025-2026)
8. [Why Hunterbrook wants to combine hedge funds and journalism, Axios](https://www.axios.com/2023/11/04/hunterbrook-hedge-funds-journalism)
9. [About Hunterbrook Media](https://hntrbrk.com/about-us)
10. [A Hedge Fund That's Also a Newspaper, Bloomberg Opinion](https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2024-04-02/a-hedge-fund-that-s-also-a-newspaper)
11. [Journalism-Powered Hedge Fund Hunterbrook Capital Finds Good News Can Be Profitable, Wall Street Journal](https://www.wsj.com/finance/investing/hunterbrook-capital-journalism-hedge-fund-81adedf8)
12. [Sell the News, Business Law Professors blog](https://www.businesslawprofessors.com/2023/11/sell-the-news/)
13. [Short-selling news startup didn't disclose investment in anti-hangover drink, Semafor](https://www.semafor.com/article/05/12/2024/short-selling-news-startup-didnt-disclose-investment-in-anti-hangover-drink)
14. [Law Firm Pushing Very Narrow Definition Of 'Coordinating With A Hedge Fund', Dealbreaker](https://dealbreaker.com/2024/10/law-firm-pushing-very-narrow-definition-of-coordinating-with-a-hedge-fund)
15. [reports.adviserinfo.sec.gov](https://reports.adviserinfo.sec.gov/reports/ADV/330338/PDF/330338.pdf)

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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Society and history › Economics and business › Finance › Investment banking and asset management › Investment banks and advisory firms*

*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 30, 2026; Oct 10, 2026 · Edited: Sep 30, 2026; Oct 10, 2026; Oct 11, 2026; Oct 15, 2026 · Last review: Oct 10, 2026*

*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*

License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license