Business of Fashion dismisses compromised editorial integrity speculation

The Business of Fashion (BoF), a digital news outlet reporting on the global fashion industry, has been called out for favouring articles and news stories towards its shareholders.

The London-based company, which last year post a loss of 5.6 million pounds on sales of 12 million pounds, counts LVMH and Farfetch as extensions of its investors, reports The Sunday Times, as well as board members associated with online retail giant Asos.

The Times wrote: “Some industry insiders believe that BoF’s widening losses and a need for fresh capital could leave it exposed to pressure — explicit or implicit — from investors hoping for helpful coverage. BoF vigorously denies that is the case.”

“An analyst at a Wall Street bank accused BoF of skewing articles favourably towards Farfetch in the run-up to its float on the New York stock market in 2018. Another analyst said: ‘A lot of it is borderline paid content — there’s a conflict of interests with their shareholders.’”

BoF said: “We are proud of our award-winning journalism and believe the quality and independence we always strive for speak for themselves. We like to call it as we see it, using a fact-based approach and backing up our assertions with data, analysis and expert opinion.”

As in most industries, young growing companies need capital from equity investors not just to survive but the grow and thrive. Investors sometimes get appointed to the board and can subsequently influence management decisions.