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Zero Hedge
Mixed Factual Reporting - Not always CredibleZeroHedge - Conspiracy - Fake News - Right Bias - Conservative - Libertarian - Not CredibleZeroHedge - Pseudoscience - Fake News - Right Bias - Conservative - Libertarian - Not Credible
CONSPIRACY-PSEUDOSCIENCE
Sources in the Conspiracy-Pseudoscience category may publish unverifiable information that is not always supported by evidence. These sources may be untrustworthy for credible/verifiable information, therefore fact checking and further investigation is recommended on a per article basis when obtaining information from these sources. See all Conspiracy-Pseudoscience sources.
Overall, we rate Zero Hedge an extreme right biased conspiracy website.
Detailed Report
Factual Reporting: MIXED
Country: Bulgaria
World Press Freedom Rank: Bulgaria 45/180
History
Launched in 2009, Zero Hedge is a finance blog founded by Colin Lokey also known with the pseudonym “Tyler Durden,” Daniel Ivandjiiski, and Tim Backshall. According to a Bloomberg Interview the Zero Hedge founders/authors were anonymous until 2016. A Professional Service Subscription is required to read the rest of the interview from Bloomberg, however a New Yorker article also covered their history.
Zero Hedge wrote a rebuttal article regarding the Bloomberg interview that can be found here. A quote from the rebuttal reads: “Zero Hedge hired Colin when he approached us over a year ago begging for a job after he was fired with cause from Seeking Alpha, following a fight with a co-worker.”
Funded by / Ownership
The website is registered in Bulgaria under the name Georgi Georgiev, a business partner of Krassimir Ivandjiiski.
According to Rationalwiki the only writer “conclusively” identified is “Dan Ivandjiiski, who conducts public interviews on behalf of Zero Hedge.” The blog generates revenue from online advertising.
Analysis / Bias
In a quote from the above New Yorker article they summarize the political stance of the blog, which Lokey told Bloomberg is: “Russia=good. Obama=idiot. Bashar al-Assad=benevolent leader. John Kerry= dunce. Vladimir Putin=greatest leader in the history of statecraft.”
Zero Hedge’s content has been classified as “alt-right” and has been criticized for presenting conspiracy theories.
In review, Zero Hedge publishes pro-right wing/Trump articles such as Pat Buchanan: “Trump Calls Off Cold War II.” As well as fake news stories regarding liberals: Anti-Trump Protesters Bused Into Austin, Chicago.
Editorial content is written under the pseudonym Tyler Durden and usually focuses on conspiracies related to economic collapse. Zero Hedge sources to factually mixed think tanks such as the The Mises Institute, which promotes Austrian (Anarcho-Capitalism) economics.
A factual search reveals a terrible track record with IFCN fact checkers. There are too many failed checks to list here.
Overall, we rate Zero Hedge an extreme right biased conspiracy website. (8/18/2016) Updated (M. Huitsing 7/17/2018)
Daniel Ivandjiiski (Bulgarian: Данаил Иванджийски, born 8 November 1978) is a Bulgarian born, U.S.–based, former investment banker and capital markets trader, and currently financial blogger, who founded the website Zero Hedge in January 2009, and remains its main publisher and editor.
Contents
1 Early career
2 Zero Hedge
3 Personal
4 Notes
5 References
6 External links
Early career
Daniel Ivandjiiski graduated from the American College of Sofia in 1997,[1] and then moved to the United States where he studied molecular biology at the University of Pennsylvania, to pursue a career in medicine, until 2001.[1] In July 2001, he joined New York investment bank, Jefferies & Co.[2] He passed his securities exams in November 2001 (Series 7 and Series 63).[2] In October 2004, he joined Los Angeles-based investment bank Imperial Capital LLC,[2] before moving back to New York in May 2005 to join investment bank Miller Buckfire LLC.[2]
While at Miller Buckfire, Ivandjiiski was charged by FINRA of gaining USD 780 from an insider trade on 14–15 March 2006.[3] On 3 September 2008, FINRA reached their decision, published on 11 September 2008, that Daniel K. Ivandjiiski was to be barred from acting as a broker or otherwise associating with a broker-dealer firm, and from being a FINRA member.[2] Ivandjiiski had not turned 30 at that time, and did not appeal the FINRA decision.[2]
In September 2007, before the FINRA ruling, Ivandjiiski moved to the Connecticut-based hedge fund Wexford Capital LLC, run by former Goldman Sachs traders.[4] After the FINRA ruling, Ivandjiiski left Wexford Capital, and within a few weeks posted his first blog on the Zero Hedge site at 4pm on 9 January 2009.[5][6]
Zero Hedge
Main article: Zero Hedge
Ivandjiiski decided that he, and all other Zero Hedge contributors, would blog under the collective pseudonym "Tyler Durden" (a character from the book Fight Club). Zero Hedge was immediately popular, growing its traffic of monthly user sessions to over 1 million in its first year (by 2018 it would be over 40 million monthly user sessions, and ranked as the 507th largest website in the U.S.[7][8][9]). In March 2011, Time Magazine ranked Zero Hedge as 9th in its 25 Best Financial Blogs.[10]
In September 2009, some New York newspapers identified Daniel Ivandjiiski as the founder of Zero Hedge, and made various assertions regarding Ivandjiiski's background, particularly his Bulgarian citizenship, his FINRA charge and lifetime ban from securities trading, and his father, Krassimir Ivandjiiski's, own controversial news and political website, Strogo Sekretno (Bulgarian: Строго секретно; English "Top Secret"),[a] and Krassimir's position in the pre-1990 Bulgarian-Soviet administration".
[6][11]
On 29 April 2016, an ex-employee of Zero Hedge, Colin Lokey, who had joined a year earlier in 2015 from Seeking Alpha, gave an interview to Bloomberg, revealing Ivandjiiski, and San Francisco-based credit trader Tim Backshall,[c] as the main force behind Zero Hedge.[12][13] The article confirmed various details about Daniel Ivandjiiski, including that he lives in a mansion in Mahwah, New Jersey, Lokey saying: "These two guys, who live a lifestyle you only dream of, are pretending to speak for you."[14] On 30 September 2016, Ivandjiiski responded to the Bloomberg exposé, in a Zero Hedge article.[15]
