Two years out of the ordinary in online information on economics and finance and two years with the accounts in order. On May 23, 2013, the day of his second birthday, our newspaper – FIRSTonline – can thus celebrate his second birthday. Two years ago FIRSTonline was little more than a bet by a group of long-time journalists in search of independence and quality and a handful of young hopefuls who often entered the world of economic and financial journalism for the first time. Today FIRSTonline is a reality that readers have come to know not as a simple site but as a real online newspaper that is updated continuously throughout the day of the markets and which has broken the dogma of the separation between news and comments, between information in real time and analysis, insights, interviews. In addition there is the independence and professional reliability that make it an original and unique product on the web to which readers devote increasing attention.
But, in addition to the quality of the product attested both by the growing number of visitors to the online newspaper and connections with social networks and by the depth and authority of the protagonists of the economy and finance who speak through FIRSTonline, even the financial statements are reasons for pride and satisfaction. In times of deep recession, it is a rarity that a start-up navigating the stormy sea of niche online information is able to present accounts in order and to resist, with its own strength, the storm that also invests newspapers that they made the history of Italian journalism. After paying taxes and honoring the employment contracts of the technical and journalistic staff and – another rarity – without having a single penny in debt, FIRSTonline also closes the second financial year in positive territory after the turnover has reached the economic breakeven and the cost structure has stabilised. They are small numbers but they signal a healthy reality that is ready to grow.
Finally, the second year of activity has pushed FIRSTonline into unprecedented fields such as e-books which represent a nascent but promising market for Italy. Through a publishing partnership with the goWare start-up, FIRSTonline has launched the first two e-books in recent weeks, one on finance and one on sport, and is preparing to launch more in the next few days and make its debut in digital school publishing. Growth will be the challenge for the third year: after the first two-year running-in period, all the conditions are in place to make a leap in quality from the point of view of volumes through partnerships and technological and editorial alliances that make it possible to enhance information and above all to extend its distribution. It's not a risk-free bet, but sometimes the ambition for excellence forces you to throw your heart over the obstacle.
