Media 2024: JIM VANDEHEI

VandeHei co-founded Axios in 2016; it launched in 2017. Five years later, Atlanta-based Cox Enterprises acquired it for a reported $525 million. However, VandeHei remains at the helm as CEO. Communications software business Axios HQ became an independent company.

A University of Wisconsin Oshkosh alumnus, VandeHei began on his entrepreneurial journey after spending time as a Washington, D.C.-based reporter. He covered congressional and House news for The Wall Street Journal from 2000 to 2003, followed by three years at The Washington Post. In 2006, he left the Post to co-found Politico, serving as its CEO until co-founding Axios.

VandeHei hasn’t strayed too far from his reporting roots, though. In May, VandeHei’s second book, “Just the Good Stuff,” hit The New York Times bestseller list, and in July, he and Axios co-founder Mike Allen reported that President Joe Biden was about to exit the presidential race just days before it happened.

In August, VandeHei announced that Axios would be laying off around 50 employees, about 10% of its workforce. The media company’s first layoffs were necessitated, VandeHei emailed staff, “by a rapidly changing media landscape.”

In November, the National Press Club will present VandeHei and Allen with the Fourth Estate Award — the club’s highest honor.