Breitbart News, right-wing website buoyed by Trump victory, aims to go global

Ten years ago in Westwood, a small army of young employees in T-shirts and shorts huddled over their laptops, determined to launch a news site that would shake up the world of conservative media.

At first, the site started by Andrew Breitbart was a simple news-aggregation site. But in a few short years it developed into an idiosyncratic voice combining original reporting, incendiary commentary and outright trolling, in keeping with the rambunctious spirit of its founder, who died in 2012. As its popularity grew, many condemned its rhetoric as extremist, xenophobic, sexist and a platform for hate speech. Others laughed it off as a journalistic lightweight catering to a far-right fringe.

For Breitbart, that could mean a direct line to the White House, a level of media access unprecedented in modern times. While some believe the site will turn into an extension of the Trump ­administration, leaders at Breitbart see its presumed access as an opportunity to compete not only with conservative rivals like Fox News, but also the rest of the media, which they consider to be dishonest about a left-leaning bias.

Breitbart doesn’t discuss its ­inner workings and finances. It doesn’t have digital subscriptions and makes most of its money selling advertising. Now that it has become a household name and a political lightning rod, mostly for its pro-Trump coverage leading up to the election, there is intense curiosity about who exactly these bad boys (and girls) of the right are: how does Breitbart make money? What is its media strategy? And will the firestorm over Bannon hinder its ambitions?