Exclusive: Morning Brew shakes up leadership structure

Morning Brew co-founder and CEO Alex Lieberman is becoming executive chairman and co-founder Austin Rief will take his place as CEO, Rief tells Axios.

The big picture: The changes come less than a year after Insider acquired a majority stake in Morning Brew. The upstart business newsletter outlet is now branching into podcasts, live events, and social video.

By the numbers: Rief says the company has flourished under its new ownership structure, and expects to nearly double in revenue this year.

• Revenue: $20 million in 2020 and $13 million in 2019. This year, Rief says the company is expecting revenues "in the high $30 millions" while remaining profitable.
• Subscribers: "Revenue across the board has increased dramatically," he says. "As has readership." Rief says the company now has 3 million subscribers across all of its five newsletters.
• Verticals: The signature "Morning Brew" email drives the bulk of revenue; verticals like Retail and Emerging Tech are growing quickly.

Since the acquisition, the company has also added a number of new hires, bringing its staff total to nearly 100, up from from 65 last year. Rief says the majority of hires have been on the content side.

Moving forward, Lieberman will be focused on Morning Brew's culture, creating content, and publicly helping to steer the company via speaking engagements, participation in large sales deals and talent acquisition.

• Rief will be responsible for the long-term vision for the business and to execute on the business day-to-day.

Between the lines: Rief says Morning Brew was not a part of its parent company Insider's unionization plan announced Monday.