# Business Wire: what it sells, price and AI features

URL: https://www.newsprint.com/companies/business-wire/
Covers: Oct. 2, 1961 to Jan. 17, 2006
Updated: 2026-11-12
License: CC BY 4.0, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Cite as: Newsprint, "Business Wire: what it sells, price and AI features", https://www.newsprint.com/companies/business-wire/, updated 2026-11-12

> Business Wire is on 2 Newsprint research maps: the PR software map and the AI visibility map. We record 2 dated launches and events for it. The latest is dated Jan. 17, 2006.

"The News Starts Here." A Berkshire Hathaway-owned press release wire for PR and investor relations teams. It sends releases to the Associated Press, Dow Jones, Bloomberg and what it calls 92,000+ media outlets in more than 160 countries, with 160+ industry lists, specialty circuits, 70+ translation languages and regulatory disclosure. Releases carry built-in features (Release Summary, Callout Text, multimedia, Interactive Media) and NewsTrak analytics reports. Its 'AI Visibility Engine' pitch is GEO built into distribution: structured data, schema and canonical tags on every release, and direct ingestion of BusinessWire.com releases by ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and Copilot. It does not sell a media database, pitching or monitoring tool. Source: [businesswire.com](https://www.businesswire.com/).

## Facts

- Site: [businesswire.com](https://www.businesswire.com/)
- Founded: [1961](https://www.newsprint.com/research/pr-software/#co-business-wire)
- Category: Press release distribution and newsrooms
- Status: Active
- Price: not published; sales-led ('Get a Quote', 'See Pricing' leads to a request form); sign-up account required to send

## On the research maps

### [The PR software map](https://www.newsprint.com/research/pr-software/#co-business-wire)

"The News Starts Here." A Berkshire Hathaway-owned press release wire for PR and investor relations teams. It sends releases to the Associated Press, Dow Jones, Bloomberg and what it calls 92,000+ media outlets in more than 160 countries, with 160+ industry lists, specialty circuits, 70+ translation languages and regulatory disclosure. Releases carry built-in features (Release Summary, Callout Text, multimedia, Interactive Media) and NewsTrak analytics reports. Its 'AI Visibility Engine' pitch is GEO built into distribution: structured data, schema and canonical tags on every release, and direct ingestion of BusinessWire.com releases by ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and Copilot. It does not sell a media database, pitching or monitoring tool. Source: [businesswire.com](https://www.businesswire.com/).

- Category: Press release distribution and newsrooms
- Price: not published; sales-led ('Get a Quote', 'See Pricing' leads to a request form); sign-up account required to send
- Covers: Pitch and Measure
- Scale: Enterprise incumbent: nine-figure revenue or public-company scale (founded 1961; wholly owned subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE) since 2006 (Berkshire release); 'Join more than 26,000 companies that choose Business Wire' (GEO page) and '92,000+ media outlets in more than 160 countries' (media center); revenue not disclosed; tier 1 rests on public-parent incumbent scale, not a disclosed revenue figure)
- Founded: 1961

Sources: [businesswire.com](https://www.businesswire.com/) and [10 more on the map](https://www.newsprint.com/research/pr-software/#co-business-wire).

### [The AI visibility map](https://www.newsprint.com/research/ai-visibility/#co-business-wire)

Press release distribution and regulatory disclosure: global, national, industry and specialty circuits, translation, multimedia and Interactive Media releases, IR services, NewsTrak analytics, and GEO built into distribution for AI visibility. Source: [businesswire.com](https://www.businesswire.com/).

- Category: PR and monitoring
- Capabilities: Content, Technical (partial) and PR and outreach (partial)
- Founded: 1961

Sources: [businesswire.com](https://www.businesswire.com/), [businesswire.com](https://www.businesswire.com/lp/generative-engine-optimization), [businesswire.com](https://www.businesswire.com/services/generative-engine-optimization) and [businesswire.com](https://www.businesswire.com/services/distribution/international-distribution).

## Launches and dated events, newest first

### Berkshire Hathaway agrees to acquire Business Wire

Acquisition, Jan. 17, 2006. Berkshire Hathaway announces a definitive agreement to acquire Business Wire as a wholly owned subsidiary, with terms undisclosed, management staying in place and closing expected in the first quarter of 2006.

Source: [Berkshire Hathaway](https://www.berkshirehathaway.com/news/2006news.html). From [the launch record](https://www.newsprint.com/launches/).

### Business Wire founded

Founded, Oct. 2, 1961. Lorry I. Lokey opened Business Wire in San Francisco on 2 October 1961 with seven clients and a private-line network serving 16 Bay Area media points.

Source: [Business Wire corporate timeline (Wayback)](https://web.archive.org/web/20150915102027/http://mms.businesswire.com/media/20140930005849/en/434193/1/BWSOC930_timeline_2014v6.pdf). From [the launch record](https://www.newsprint.com/launches/).

## Methodology and corrections

How we track launches, and how to report an error: https://www.newsprint.com/updates/pr-software/#methodology