GOOD Worldwide

GOOD Worldwide Inc. is a United States–based media company that reports on businesses and non-profits.^[1][2] GOOD produces a website, a quarterly magazine, online videos, and events. The company was founded in 2006 and has offices in Los Angeles, New York, and Seattle.

GOOD Worldwide

Company type	Private
Founder	Max Schorr Ben Goldhirsh Casey Caplowe
Headquarters	Los Angeles
Key people	Max Schorr(CEO)
Subsidiaries	Upworthy
Website	https://www.good.is/

Brands

GOOD

GOOD is a media outlet and produces the online news site www.good.is.^[3]

Upworthy

Upworthy is a media brand that focuses on publishing positive stories. It was started in March 2012 by Eli Pariser and Peter Koechley, and was acquired by GOOD Worldwide in 2017.^[4][5] Originally, Upworthy focused on featuring existing content found elsewhere on the internet, but it later shifted to sharing more original content.^[6] In 2021 it was ranked as one of the Top 100 Social Brands,^[7] and in 2024 it reached over 100 million people per month.^[8]

History

GOOD was co-founded in 2006 by Ben Goldhirsh (son of Inc. magazine founder Bernie Goldhirsh), Max Schorr, and Casey Caplowe.^[9][10] Eschewing experienced editors, he hired friends from college and high school, including Al Gore's son, Al Gore III. The team was initially criticized by some industry experts, such as magazine executive and publishing expert Chip Block, who said, "This sounds a lot to me like vanity publishing, a bunch of kids sitting around with something they think is a really good idea, and one of them has a lot of money. You can catch lightning in a bottle. But the odds are against them."^[9] Others in the industry praised the magazine's design and concept upon its launch.^[9]

Business strategy and launch

GOOD was launched in fall of 2006.^{[11][12][13][14]} Instead of traditional marketing strategies, GOOD used their marketing budget to throw launch parties.^[9][15]

GOOD's business strategy included donating its magazine subscription fees entirely to charities, offering subscribers multiple options for which organization their fee supported.^[9][16][17] In 2009 Goldhirsh said that advertising revenue had allowed the magazine to nearly break-even.^[18]

In 2008, GOOD experimented with a three-month long name-your-own-pricing campaign. The campaign was kicked off in conjunction with a concept called the GOOD Sheet, a limited-time weekly newsprint distributed exclusively at Starbucks.^[19][20] Each edition focused on a current affair, such as healthcare or education.^[20]

In 2009, GOOD consolidated its brands Reason Pictures, GOOD Magazine, and GOOD Digital, into a single organization - GOOD Worldwide.^[3] Around the same time, the company closed a Series A funding round and announced several partnership and investment agreements. These included agreements with Causes, Goodrec, and Govit. GOOD had grown to receiving over 2 million unique website visits a month, while its print magazine was read by around two hundred thousand people.^[3]

On August 17, 2011, a joint announcement was made that social network service Jumo would be aquired by GOOD.^[21]

In June 2012, most of the magazine's editors were fired.^[22] According to Goldhirsh, the decision was made in order to refocus the company on its new website, GOOD.is.^[23] Eight former GOOD magazine editors and writers raised funds on Kickstarter to create the one-shot magazine Tomorrow before going their separate ways.^[24]

2015-Present

In March 2015, GOOD resumed publication of the magazine with a new design and format.^[25] In 2017, the magazine received a National Magazine Award.^[26]

In February 2016, Good Worldwide hired Nancy Miller, formerly of Wired, Fast Company, and Los Angeles magazine, as editor-in-chief of the digital and print magazine.^[27]

In August 2018, Good Media Group laid off 31 employees from its Upworthy site. Upworthy CEO Charlie Wilkie resigned, and Eli Pariser resigned from the board.^[28]