Marcus W. Brauchli is a journalist, media investor and advisor. He is co-founder, along with Saša Vučinič, of North Base Media, an investment firm specialized in media and technology in global growth markets, and has served as an advisor to media groups including Graham Holdings, Univision and HT Media. He was executive editor of The Washington Post from 2008-2012, overseeing the Posts print and digital news operations. He succeeded Leonard Downie, Jr. and preceded Martin Baron. He previously served as the top editor of The Wall Street Journal before Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. acquired the Journal's parent company, Dow Jones.
Before joining the Post, Brauchli was managing editor of the Wall Street Journal. Brauchli had served 15 years as a foreign correspondent, mainly in Asia, and eight years as a senior editor in New York. Shortly after Brauchli's appointment as managing editor was announced, Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. disclosed a takeover offer for Dow Jones & Co., the Journal's parent. Brauchli remained as editor through the acquisition but four months afterwards, on April 22, 2008, he announced his resignation. The Post, under new publisher Katharine Weymouth, announced on July 8 that it had hired him. During his tenure, the Post won seven Pulitzer prizes, including five for the newsroom, and many other journalism awards. A 2012 account in The New York Times outlined signs and reports that Brauchli's "relationship with the publisher has cooled". It also noted that Raju Narisetti, whom Brauchli had brought with him from the Journal as a "close partner...in the digital reinvention of the newsroom", had left the Post in January. The Times also said that "y one important measure, The Post’s efforts are paying off. Recently, it has averaged 19.6 million unique visitors a month, according to comScore, making it the second-most-visited American newspaper Web site, behind that of The New York Times". According to that same article about The Washington Post in The New York Times, "Mr. Brauchli has reacted to the upheaval by overseeing one of the most sweeping and closely watched reorientations of any newsroom in the country. The editors now stress online metrics and freely borrow from the playbooks of more nimble online competitors like Politico and The Huffington Post. The outcome of their efforts could offer a high-profile case study on how a company can foster an entrepreneurial, digital culture while remaining true to its heritage." Brauchli stepped down as editor at the end of 2012 and took on a new role working for the Post's parent company, before the Post was sold to Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon. As of 2015, Brauchli has started a new investment firm, North Base Media. North Base is focused on digital-media opportunities in emerging markets. NBM's investments include media companies Rappler in the Philippines; IDN Media in Indonesia; PocketAces in India; and technology companies such as OpenSlate in New York, Syte.io of Israel, and Zaiko in Japan.
Personal life
Brauchli has been based overseas in Hong Kong, Stockholm, Tokyo and Shanghai and has covered at least 20 countries. He is married to Maggie Farley, a former Los Angeles Times correspondent. They have two daughters, Aria, 20 and Zoe, 18.
