Chattanooga-based FreightWaves spins off media outlets into Firecrown

FreightWaves, the Chattanooga-based provider of freight shipping data through its Sonar technology, announced Wednesday it is spinning off its media businesses, including its digital news publications for the trucking, aviation and boating industries.

The media businesses will remain in familiar hands, however. Craig Fuller, who founded FreightWaves in 2016 and remains its CEO, is combining FreightWaves media with the Flying Media Group he acquired more than two years ago.

“Our SONAR offering has reached a sufficient scale where it will be standalone and the media business is being divested,” Fuller said in a statement posted on social media Wednesday.

The new media entity will be known as Firecrown, which FreightWaves said is expected to generate more than $50 million in revenue this year.

“I am really excited about this,” Fuller said. “Now, the SONAR team can focus on scaling our SaaS (software as a service) without the distractions of media and our media team will be provided new investment and resources across a much larger media platform.”

FreightWaves Sonar collects and reports price, demand and capacity data from shippers around the world to help its users monitor, analyze and forecast transportation markets.

Fuller said all of FreightWaves media assets and staff will move to Firecrown under the business realignment. But he said the media platforms will retain their specific identities, including American Shipper, Flying magazine, FreightWavesTV and FreighWaves.com.

With more than 170 employees and more than 100 contributors, the Firecrown platform is the largest transportation publishing platform in the world, according to FreightWaves. Over the past three years, Fuller’s business has acquired 35 brands, including Flying, Avbuyer, Avweb, Yachting, Sailing World, Salt Water Sportsman, Sport Fishing and Boating.

— Compiled by Dave Flessner