Who owns the young Turk's news?
Executive summary
The Young Turks (TYT) began as Cenk Uygur’s online progressive show and remains directed by the TYT Network; ownership is a mix of founder-led management and outside equity investors who bought stakes in a 2017 financing round — notably 3L Capital, Greycroft, e.ventures and Jeffrey Katzenberg’s WndrCo — while the outlet also continues to rely on audience contributions for revenue [1] [2] [3]. Public reporting and company materials identify Cenk Uygur as founder and CEO and list TYT as a privately held network, but the precise current cap table and any single majority owner are not disclosed in the sources provided [4] [5].
1. Origins and the founder who still defines TYT
TYT was founded by Cenk Uygur as an online radio program in 2002 and evolved into a multi-channel digital news network with The Young Turks as its flagship show; Uygur is routinely identified in company material and outside reporting as the founder and a central public face and executive of the network [1] [3] [4]. Company pages and profiles describe TYT as an independent digital-native news operation that historically relied on grassroots viewer contributions to sustain itself, a claim the organization emphasizes across its own “About” and corporate materials [1] [3].
2. The 2017 financing that changed the ownership mix
In August 2017 TYT closed a roughly $20 million funding round led by growth equity firm 3L Capital with participation from Greycroft, e.ventures and WndrCo — Jeffrey Katzenberg’s holding company — which took an equity stake in TYT Network, marking a move from pure audience-funded independence toward institutional investment [2]. Multiple trade reports and investor profiles confirm those participants and the headline $20 million figure, signaling that while founders retained operational control, outside investors gained ownership stakes in the company [2] [5].
3. What that investment practically means — and what’s unknown
The presence of growth investors and a high-profile media backer like WndrCo means TYT’s ownership is at least partly distributed among venture investors, but available public sources do not publish a full cap table or disclose whether any investor holds a controlling stake; PitchBook and Crunchbase list TYT’s funding and investor names but require paid access for detailed ownership percentages [5] [6]. Company PR and TYT’s site continue to present the network as founder-led and mission-driven, noting awards and reach, but those statements do not equate to full ownership transparency [7] [3].
4. Narrative and skepticism from critics about investor influence
Critics and commentators have seized on the 2017 financing to argue that corporate money may have diluted TYT’s grassroots independence, with pieces on Medium alleging ideological compromises tied to investor backgrounds and donations — claims that reflect a broader debate about the influence of investors on editorial direction but remain interpretive rather than definitive ownership facts [8] [9]. InfluenceWatch, a watchdog-style profile, reiterates Uygur’s founding role and TYT’s large YouTube reach but frames the network within the context of partisan media ecosystems rather than providing new ownership detail [4].
5. How TYT describes itself and outside partnerships
TYT’s own corporate pages still describe the network as the flagship multi-show operation led by its founders, touting milestone achievements and platform partnerships, and they cite additional funding and programmatic deals such as YouTube-supported training initiatives that reflect revenue diversification beyond donations and venture capital [7] [10]. External reporting underscores the dual reality: TYT is both a personality-driven media brand (anchored by Uygur) and a venture-backed digital network with named institutional investors from the 2017 round [2] [3].
6. Bottom line and reporting limitations
The simplest accurate answer is that The Young Turks is owned by the privately held TYT Network, founded and led by Cenk Uygur, with equity investors — including 3L Capital, Greycroft, e.ventures and WndrCo — taking stakes in a 2017 financing round; however, the exact current ownership percentages, any controlling investor, and post-2017 cap table changes are not publicly detailed in the sources provided [1] [2] [5] [4]. Reporting thus confirms founder leadership plus institutional investment but cannot, on available documentation, state whether any one party has majority ownership or how voting control is allocated.