MarketWatch: Started by CBS, Not Dow Jones, and Not Called "Premium" Anymore
How it was actually founded, what it costs today, and its consumer-reviews side business, and where automated execution fits in for traders who read it.
Market Data & News · 6 min read
MarketWatchThe hook: MarketWatch launched in 1997 as CBS.MarketWatch.com, a CBS News joint venture, eight years before Dow Jones bought it for $528 million in 2005. And it didn't go behind a paywall at all until October 2020, for most of its history it was free.
- Founded 1997 by CBS/DBC, acquired by Dow Jones in 2005, not from day one
- Only paywalled since October 2020
- Runs a separate consumer-reviews vertical, MarketWatch Guides
About MarketWatch
MarketWatch launched on October 30, 1997, as CBS.MarketWatch.com, a 50/50 joint venture between CBS News and Data Broadcasting Corporation, led by Larry Kramer and Derek Reisfield, with Thom Calandra as founding editor-in-chief. It went public in 1999 before Dow Jones acquired it outright in January 2005 for $528 million, roughly eight years after launch, not from its founding. Current editor-in-chief Mark DeCambre took the role in March 2022, succeeding Jeremy Olshan.
It remained almost entirely free, aside from a couple of standalone paid newsletters, until October 2020, when it introduced its current subscription model. There is no plan literally branded "MarketWatch Premium," the real structure is a standalone MarketWatch plan (roughly $5/week, or an introductory $1/week for new subscribers) or a WSJ+ bundle adding The Wall Street Journal and Barron's for roughly $12.50/week.
Beyond markets coverage, it runs MarketWatch Guides, an editorially separate consumer-research vertical covering insurance comparisons, car warranty reviews, and business-formation service reviews, plus a long-running advice column, The Moneyist, written by Quentin Fottrell, and an annual "MarketWatch 50" list of influential finance and tech figures.
What MarketWatch Offers
Breaking News Desk
Real-time market-moving headlines.
MarketWatch / WSJ+ Subscriptions
Standalone or bundled with The Wall Street Journal and Barron's.
MarketWatch Guides
A separate consumer-research vertical (insurance, warranties, business services).
The Moneyist
A long-running money-and-ethics advice column.
Retirement Planning Tools
A multi-input retirement calculator with projected income/spending graphs.
Free Newsletters
Multiple daily/weekly newsletters, including a premium Barron's Energy Insider.
Why Traders Rely On MarketWatch
Its appeal is a combination of speed and institutional credibility. Even with the more complex ownership history than "always Dow Jones" implies, the Dow Jones/News Corp lineage since 2005 backs a level of editorial resourcing that makes it a default source for traders who want breaking news without wading through smaller outlets.
A markets-news brand was free for 23 years before it ever asked readers to pay.
MarketWatch: Strengths and Limitations
Strengths
Limitations
MarketWatch FAQ
No. It launched in 1997 as CBS.MarketWatch.com, a joint venture between CBS News and Data Broadcasting Corporation. Dow Jones acquired it separately in January 2005 for $528 million.
No. The current subscription structure is a standalone MarketWatch plan (around $5/week) or a WSJ+ bundle with The Wall Street Journal and Barron's (around $12.50/week).
Mark DeCambre, named to the role in March 2022, succeeding Jeremy Olshan.
Yes, MarketWatch Guides is a separate, editorially distinct consumer-research vertical covering insurance, car warranties, and business-formation service reviews.
Automating a Reaction to MarketWatch News
By the time a MarketWatch headline updates a trader's feed, futures markets have usually already started moving. The traders who benefit are the ones with a rule-based reaction already automated, not the fastest readers. PickMyTrade lets a trader pre-build that reaction as a TradingView alert.
How it works
- Build a price- or volatility-based alert in TradingView, no coding required
- Connect PickMyTrade to your broker or prop firm account once
- PickMyTrade executes automatically when the alert fires
- Copy the same signal across multiple accounts at once
No, PickMyTrade automates from TradingView alerts only, not third-party news feeds directly.
News-driven automated trading involves fast-moving markets and is generally better suited to traders with existing risk management experience.
PickMyTrade is an independent automation platform. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by MarketWatch, unless otherwise stated. Trading futures and other leveraged products carries substantial risk of loss. Details reflect what was published on MarketWatch's official site and public record at the time of research and may have changed since.