When S&P Global paid $1.8 billion for private markets data business With Intelligence in October 2025, at nearly 14 times expected revenue, it wasn't just a headline deal.
It was proof of something many B2B publishers haven't clocked yet: the raw material for a genuinely valuable data business is probably already sitting inside their editorial operation.
A data business isn't the same as a first-party data strategy. Advertisers pay for first-party data to reach the right audience. A true data product is different again: customers pay directly for structured, reliable information they can build decisions on. That distinction matters, because information businesses routinely command far higher valuation multiples than traditional media companies, thanks to contractual renewals, high gross and net revenue retention, and a sales-led (rather than paywall-led) route to market.
The good news is that most publishers aren't starting from zero. Years of reporting, source relationships and event content are all latent data assets, they just haven't been structured as a product yet.
In this piece for A Media Operator, our partners at 67 Bricks unpack what actually counts as a data business, why investors pay such a premium for one, and how to start validating an idea before you spend a penny on infrastructure.
Read the full article on A Media Operator.
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