Semafor reported:
Business Insider’s parent company is divided over the publication’s recent article about plagiarism allegations made against the wife of businessman Bill Ackman.
Ackman led the effort to oust now-former Harvard president Claudine Gay over plagiarism accusations, amid campus controversies around Israel and Gaza. Last week, Business Insider reported that his wife, Neri Oxman, plagiarized portions of her dissertation.
The company recently added the ‘Business’ back to its name,in a move intended to return the brand to its roots. Top execs at Axel Springer seem to be worried that reports like those on Oxman last week could damage BI’s reputation in the eyes of some potential business readers.
The greed and leverage boys dislike news organizations and reporters who ask challenging questions, much less those with the temerity to hold up a mirror to financial giants.
Flash back to July 2011:
There are very few people out there who will talk and write honestly about private equity. I know from personal experience that the financial press is so eager to break news on "deals" that reporters (who are increasingly compensated on the number of "market moving stories" they write) can't afford to be critical of Carlyle, KKR and Blackstone, and risk losing access to people at those firms.
This lament came from a former major business reporter, much bigger than Business Insider.
A wise friend warned me after I closed a "PEUs Rule" piece with financial giants expanding their influence into the realm of university Presidents.
PEU chiefs have more riches and power every day. We've had decades to see how they use it.
Ironically, I used a story from Insider, now Business Insider again. Ackman wants to remake the Harvard Presidency in his image.
Mr. Ackman was much more charitable to his wife's improper citation than he was to Harvard President Gay. It's a good thing Mrs. Ackman did not have to resign from her marriage.
Update 1-8-24: Daily Beast called it a "C-Suite War" over the BI plagiarism story. The C's look out for one another. CNN wrote of Ackman's war with Business Insider and MIT. Reason wrote about Ackman's fury.
Update 1-9-24: CNN chronicled Ackman's targeting university leaders and now professors at MIT. Ackman said Business Insider breached "the code" of conduct, that his family should be off-limits from media scrutiny.