Consumer >> CEO Interviews >> November 13, 2013
Elisabeth DeMarse was appointed President, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of TheStreet, Inc. (TST), in March 2012. From October 2010 to March 2012, Ms. DeMarse was CEO of Newser, LLC, an online news service. Prior to Newser, she was Founder and CEO of CreditCards.com Inc., which she created by acquiring the assets of ClickSuccess in Austin, Texas, Freedom Marketing in Colchester, U.K., and the acquisition and buildout of numerous credit-related URLs. Previously, Ms. DeMarse transformed iLife.com into Bankrate, Inc., engineering the turnaround of the company, driving exponential growth and creating $450 million in shareholder value. Bankrate was acquired for $560 million by APAX in 2009; in August 2010, Bankrate acquired Creditcards.com Inc. for $145 million. Ms. DeMarse spent a decade as Chief Marketing Officer for Bloomberg L.P. working directly for the Founder, Michael Bloomberg, where she was instrumental in the formation of several media properties. She serves on the board of directors of AppNexus. Ms. DeMarse is a graduate of HBS and a cum laude graduate of Wellesley College. She is a member of the Committee of 200. Awards include Working Mother of the Year, Dealmaker of the Year, Most Intriguing Person in Media, NOW Woman of Power and Influence, Fast Company Fast 50, Inc. 500 and ACG Award for Outstanding Corporate Growth. She lives in Manhattan with her husband and two children. She divides her time between New York and Annisquam, Massachusetts. Profile
TWST: I'd like to start the interview with just a brief overview of TheStreet’s business.
Ms. DeMarse: TheStreet was founded by Jim Cramer in 1996. Cramer was a hedge fund manager