No-Frills Drudge Report Is Worth a Fortune

Whatever your opinion of Matt Drudge's news sensibilities, it's time he got his due as "arguably the single-most powerful individual in the digital news business," writes Henry Blodget at Business Insider. His Drudge Report may look simple, but Blodget figures it's worth somewhere between $150 million and $375 million, which is all the more jaw-dropping when you consider that Drudge produces it nearly single-handedly.

It just passed the milestone of 1 billion pageviews a month, thanks to its 14.4 million monthly readers in the US—figures that put it on par with the New York Times (which has a wee bit bigger staff) as a digital media property. In fact, all those clicks mean Drudge could be pulling in up to $15 million in after-tax profit a year. Even his critics should acknowledge that Drudge "has created one of the most innovative, successful, and profitable digital media businesses on the planet." Read the full piece here. (More Drudge Report stories.)