Newsmax

Newsmax is a television and digital news company. Its Form 10-K describes Newsmax Inc. as “a television broadcaster and multi-platform content” business, and it lists its business as depending on affiliation and carriage agreements with multichannel video programming distributors and third-party-owned television stations.

Public Listing

Newsmax completed a private placement of Series B preferred stock in February 2025, raising net proceeds of approximately $206.7 million, completed its **initial public offering on 28 March 2025** for net proceeds of approximately$67.5 million, and listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker NMAX on 31 March 2025. At the IPO it adopted a dual-class structure: Class A shares carry ten votes each and Class B one, with the Class A stock held by chief executive and director Christopher Ruddy and his affiliates. The company identifies its dependence on Ruddy and on named news personalities as a risk factor.

Defamation Settlements

The company’s filings record two settlements arising from its coverage of the 2020 presidential election, and the figures previously carried on this page are confirmed by them.

Smartmatic sued seeking up to $1.6 billion in compensatory damages plus punitive damages. On **26 September 2024** Newsmax settled for approximately **$40.0 million** payable over time, together with a five-year warrant — after the IPO conversion, a warrant over 1,333,333 Class B shares at $7.50. The company reports the settlement liability fully satisfied as of 31 December 2025.

On 15 August 2025 Newsmax Media, Inc. and Newsmax Broadcasting, LLC settled with Dominion for a total of $67.0 million, payable in three instalments across the then-current and following two fiscal years.

Sourcing Note

The founded: 1998 value is removed: the 10-K does not state a founding year. The reach line “319,000 average weekly viewers (2024)” is removed — no source for it could be fetched, and the company publishes no such figure in its annual report.

The greg-kelly and sean-spicer host connections are removed: neither slug resolves to a page in this knowledge base, and neither presenter is named in the filing. Also removed as unsourceable: the description of the network as having “experienced significant growth during 2020 election disputes”; the list of streaming platforms carrying it (Roku, YouTube, Pluto TV); the claim that it “has advocated for what it describes as fair treatment by cable providers”; and the closing characterization of it as “a significant development in the post-2020 media landscape.”