robert allbritton wife

His father, Joe, had barreled into town in 1974 when he bought the Washington Star, the citys afternoon paper. A high valuation could have made VandeHeis phantom shares worth more than they already were. It was a really cool collaboration, Allbritton says. But their alliance transformed Washingtons media landscape, reshaping the way news organizations cover politicians, creating a new cast of local celebrities, and, in the process, becoming a digital bible for political insiders. I was not politically active in college, Allbritton says. He graduated from Wesleyan in 1992 and went directly into Riggs Banks investment-management side. I see myself as a normal kind of person, he says. Our salaries are competitive with the New York Times but not way above.. By that time, Robert had lost respect for Jim as a CEO, says a person familiar with Allbrittons thinking. VandeHei says it was the holy s moment. They wanted to hire some name-brand reporters who had sources and firepower. He also hit the speakers circuit, sharing stages with Moneyball author Michael Lewis, former Secretary of State Colin Powell, and AOL founder Steve Case. But the division between Allbritton and VandeHei was too profound to be resolved over beers, the way the old partners used to do. In its February 11 report, Moodys says Allbritton has annual revenue of approximately $225 million, but it downgraded the companys outlook to negative., Allbritton derives the majority of its revenue from advertising, the report says, which faces cyclical pressures and heightened price and volume competition from media fragmentation. VandeHei was at the top of the reporting game. All journalists are not created equal, he says. [11] Robert Allbritton didn't need to climb his way to the top of Washington journalismhe was born there. Were growing like crazy. (Axel Springer declined to comment.). According to Juliet Eilperin, a Roll Call colleague who now works for the Washington Post, VandeHei spoke openly about his Christian faith and conservative upbringing: Those were things, she says, that kind of allowed him to establish relationships with prominent Republicans and aides that might have been more difficult for one of the more stereotypical Ivy League liberal journalists.. He remembers standing near the pilot and marveling at the dials and gauges. These scoops raised VandeHeis profile. He wanted to be involved in most of the decisions, Brady says. You have to flip your view and think of Politico beyond what you see in DC. And unlike its competitors, which were still largely tied to the daily print cycle, it would feed BlackBerry-addicted Beltway insiders in real time, starting with Allens early-morning newsletter, Playbook. We are making money, Allbritton says. The relationship ultimately deteriorated during a series of events that has not been reported until now. The only thing I couldnt give him was ownership, Allbritton told the crowd. VandeHei and Harris say that neither Allbritton nor Fred Ryan has ever weighed in on coverage. [7], Allbritton also made a name for himself in thoroughbred horse racing. I ask if he sees himself as a pillar of the Washington community or a businessman who lives here. Four years later, he sold the newspaper to Time Inc. but kept the television station. Axel Springer, the companys partner in Europe, was looking to acquire stakes in digital-media companies in the United States. People liked the idea, VandeHei says. Were off to the races.. It became all-consuming for a few months.. Less than a year later, VandeHei was working in Washington. We anticipate considerable revenue pressure in 2009 due to weak consumer spending and credit market conditions, as well as the normal odd-year decline in political advertising, and forecast that Allbritton revenue will decline by 10% to 15% for calendar 2009.. When Robert was seven, the Allbrittons pulled up stakes and moved to a house in Georgetown. The elder Allbritton died in 2012. According to a former member of Politicos leadership, Mike Allen and Schwartz backed VandeHei as he repeatedly tried to persuade Allbritton to explore a sale; Harris initially supported the idea, too. After considering buying the Hill, one of the two established political dailies, he decided to start his own. The story behind this seemingly abrupt exit was a total mystery to one of the most well-wired newsrooms in Washingtonand Allbritton and VandeHei did their best to keep it that way. I dont see us competing against the Post, Robert Allbritton tells me. Robert thought Jim was interested in the shiny new object, says a Politico executive, but he wasnt interested in actually running it.. In high school, his guidance counselor was so underwhelmed that he recommended that VandeHeison of an accountant and a stay-at-home motherconsider trade school or the Army. One guy battling another is old-media thinking. Graham set up a lunch at the Hay-Adams hotel. VandeHei said Harris was concerned they would lack exposure and lose their standing as top political reporters. If you want to take a vacation, Trachtenberg said. Such a change could have given global throw-weight to the growing news outlet and could have benefited VandeHei financially. Chevy Chase, MD20815 He had met Elena Christine Hardy at Wesleyan, but they didnt date. Robert L. Albritton of Fort Worth graduated with honors from Texas A&M University receiving a double major in Economics and Marketing in 1971. The four met regularly to knock around ideas. He hired a former Hill editor, brought on 50 employees, and prepared to roll out the new publication: the Capitol Leader. Then she said, Thats not going to happen.. Robert says he learned the most from buying two stations around Birmingham, Alabama, in 1996 and combining them into the strongest in the area. By using this form you agree with the storage and handling of your data by this website. In Brillion, VandeHei covered it alllittle-league games, ribbon-cuttings, school-board meetings. At 22, he was analyzing deals and helping the bank decide on loans. Although he lacked the Ivy League pedigree of many of his peers, VandeHei scraped his way up the media food chainfrom New Fuels Report to Inside the New Congress to Roll Call. Jim VandeHei often arrives at the Politico newsroom in Rosslyn around 6 am to push his troops to win the morning, as he exhorted in a memo. [8] He is survived by his widow, Barbara, and their son, Robert and two grandchildren.[1]. Politico got mileage from the scoop; the Postendured days of negative press. A paper would be a nice fit with their broadcast and cable-news operations. Instead, this source says VandeHei thought a deal would provide the capital infusion Politico needed to reach its aggressive growth targets. But it has matured. He has welcomed audiences to Politicos presidential debates, hosted eight Politico tables at the White House Correspondents Association dinner, and assumed his fathers place at the Gridiron and Alfalfa club dinners. [3], From 1981 to 2001, he was chairman of Riggs Bank. [1] He contributed to Washington National Cathedral, where he was made a Lay canon. Meanwhile, throughout the summer and fall of 2015, VandeHei and Allbrittons relationship unraveled. Ann was with Autumn and Jim. "[5] He is a trustee of the Lyndon Baines Johnson Library and Museum. According to the early recruit, VandeHei said hed divide the companys equity among himself, his cofounder, and each reporter and editor they hired. Then there was the companys mastery of the dark arts of internet traffic generationlearned from an unconventional source. I dont want to lose touch with what people are going through. Instead, VandeHei argued that Allbritton should capitalize on the opportunity before him. The pie will grow., Moodys Investment Service, which rates and analyzes global businesses, wonders if Allbritton Communications is making enough money to service its debt. Look at the big picture: The hundreds of people behind Politico created the most consequential, badass Washington publication of the past few decades. How NPRs Latino Newsroom Plans to Provide Bilingual Coverage of the State of the Union, Marjorie Taylor Green vs. Dr. Dre Joins the Long History of Politicians Beefing With Musicians, Registration for the Bay Bridge Run Opens at Noon Today, Inside Jackie Kennedys Intriguing Pre-JFK Life, You Might Spot These Celebs Around DC This Weekend, A Black Bear Has Been Rummaging Through Trash Cans in Kensington, Everything You Missed at Last Nights White House State Dinner, How the M3 Rock Fest Saved 80s Hair Metal, Folger Shakespeare Library Will Reopen in November, Meet the 2023 Washington Women in Journalism Award Winners, A Ginormous Bounce House Is Coming to the DC Area This Spring, NEW: A Lottery System for National Gallery Night Tickets, The 100 Very Best Restaurants in Washington. Robert Allbritton would wake up for the next four years to stories about the investigations into the bank he now ran. Allbritton served in the United States Navy during World War II. This biography of an American publisher is a stub. Everyone should be proud of a great run. If that works for you, we can do it.. Riggs was the meal.. T:301-652-8081 Boyish and easygoing, he was sometimes mistaken for a reporter or techie in the newsroom. Bass convinced VandeHei to meet with Ryan and Allbritton. But it wasnt until he accepted Zanders offer that he realized hed found his calling. Triple Crown series, the Preakness and the Belmont stakes. Valenti, who died in 2007, was one of Allbritton's closest friends; the 41st president was a regular at the annual brunch Allbritton and his wife, Barbara, held at their Washington home on. When Fred Ryan stepped down as CEO (hes now publisher of the Post), VandeHei got the job. They have multi-revenue streams and a layered audience, so they can take advantage of their national reach and a very targeted local readership at the same time., She agrees that ad dollars are plentiful on Capitol Hill. Politicos identity as a singular scoop factory faded. From the time he was little, Allbritton had flown in his fathers jet. Use census records and voter lists to see where families with the Allbritton surname lived. Every company has a small group of deciders, always including the CEO, CRO, and COO. Politicos extended leadership team comprised 20 people, he adds. That year, its website averaged 3.1 million unique visitors a month; only 11 US newspapers logged higher traffic. Joe Allbritton didnt seem to want to compete with the megabanks; instead he created more of a boutique bank that served international customers and the diplomatic community. It had confounded its competition in the political-news industry. It freed Robert Allbritton to devote his time and money to launching Politico, the hard-charging newspaper and digital publication that covers political news from Capitol Hill to the White House. Its time to double down and take another risk, he said. He had gone to the Post from the Wall Street Journal and become one of the papers top political writers. Around 2004, he was covering John Kerrys presidential campaign when Joe Dill, VandeHeis first editor at the Oshkosh daily, overheard a familiar name on TV, which was tuned to CNN. I was getting bored with reporting, Harris says. In 2005, Riggs was sold to PNC Financial Services Group. When the TBD staff arrived in Rosslyn, they were surprised by Allbrittons role. Allbritton describes these mistakes as whoopsies and says they werent out of the ordinary for a first-year executive. A former member of Politicos leadership insists that the mistakes originated from incorrect information provided by Allbritton Communications financial managers. This friendship served Politico well. VandeHei referred to the venture as Project X, according to an early recruit. Other new-media start-ups, meanwhile, were fetching giant piles of cash. We were in a constant rolling conversation about ideas. John Dickerson, now chief political correspondent for the online magazine Slate, says he spent hours closeted with Robert in the Allbritton home buried in our computers, doing parallel programming.. Harris spelled out his reservations and argued for staying with the Post. Our dream, VandeHei and Harris wrote in a September 2015 memo, is a Politico journalistic presence in every capital of every state and country of consequence by 2020.. The previous days events had rattled Politicos rank and file. I tend to agree with that.. Boeing airplanes have flown across Politicos home page. They could spoon-feed previously unreported materials to Politico, whichin its dash to be firstwould publish these scoops with little regard for news value. He was always more interested in technology. But this year, a new party joined the mix: POLITICO owner Robert Allbritton and his wife, Elena, opened their stunning Georgetown mansion to a wide swath of VIPs eager for one more round of . You hate to see an institution that was around for 150 years go away, Allbritton says, but it still lives on with new owners. They made their pitch again. It will be harder to keep his sense of humor and low profile. The dispute made life in Politicos executive ranks uncomfortable during December and January. Im not a reporter anymore, VandeHei joked back. He was two days shy of 32. Allbritton Communications seemed an ideal buyer. I loved DonI loved Len.. I just want to be able to shop at the grocery store and not have people know I am anything more than an average guy buying tomatoes, he says. This was painful from a personal perspective, intolerable from the publications perspective. The question on Allbrittons mind: Do you want to put a big bet on something you already have a big bet on? According to a source familiar with the discussions, VandeHei concluded that a bubble in the industry would inflate Politicos value, too. He had said, I dont want to run a newspaper on Capitol Hill.. Theodore Roosevelt Island is in the foreground, the White House, Washington Monument, and Capitol just beyond. Fred Ryan, who would become instrumental in growing Allbritton Communications and creating Politico, arrived in 1995. He said they risked losing their high-profile appearances on TV talk shows; they would drop into oblivion. In October 2006, around the time he decided against buying the Times Companys stations, Allbritton started focusing on the new newspaper taking shape on the first floor of the Rosslyn high-rise. And though he still owned the TV stations his dad had assembled, he took particular pride in his headline-making new-media outlet. As a young teen, he became friends with John Dickerson, whose parents, Nancy and Wyatt, were close with the Allbrittons. He agreed to help get the venture off the ground. The media world was a different place even three years ago, Allbritton says. According to a person familiar with the situation, these transactions served as reminders to VandeHei and Harris that they didnt have true equity stakes. In fact, he doesnt wear a watch. Eagles float on thermals. I quit.. Using his initials, he changed the call letters to WJLA. We looked at radio, but WTOP was the best and not for sale. When Riggs sold to PNC, it was not what everyone dreamed of, but it was a plausible price.. The systems were out of date. Jim VandeHei walked through the rain from the Post to the Jefferson Hotel for a lunch meeting with CBS News executive Paul Friedman. Politicos PR staff makes sure scoops show up on other Web sites and reporters get time on cable TV. Harris was torn; VandeHei was ready to bolt. In the late 1980s and early 90s, Allbritton attended Wesleyan University, known for its liberal activism. He wasnt the CEO like you think of CEOs, remembers Brady. The most Allbritton families were found in USA in 1880. But tonight, January 28, Politicos biggest story was about itself. The company raised $200 million in the public debt market. Politico publishes a free newspaper Monday through Friday when Congress is in session; 32,000 copies are distributed to congressional offices, the White House, executive departments, and boxes in downtown DC. Don Graham is chairman of the Washington Post Company; Len Downie was executive editor of the Post.

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