In Memoriam: Legendary Journalist And FIN Founder James Ledbetter Dies at 60
His innate ability to see around corners made his prose powerful—and hard to ignore.
Number of the Week: 77% (explanation below)
Legendary Journalist, Author And FIN Founder James Ledbetter’s Prose Was Powerful—And Hard to Ignore
James Ledbetter possessed an innate ability to look at something and see around the corner, a skill he masterfully deployed in covering media, politics, business, technology, regulation, monetary policy, and the economy for many high-profile media outlets.
If it wasn’t for his great humanity and generosity of spirit, he would have been seriously intimidating to anyone working with or for him.
When Jim launched FIN in October 2020 (at the time, it was James Ledbetter’s FIN)—at the height of the pandemic—he was sure of one thing: Substack newsletters were quickly becoming a thing, and, true to form, he was all-in. The world was about to get another masterclass in storytelling and thoughtful analysis.
Jim’s sudden death on October 28th is a painful reminder that life isn’t fair, and it also often isn’t long enough, leaving us desperately wanting more time to consciously immerse ourselves in and marvel at the greatness of others.
He knew this harsh truth firsthand. Jim talked with me frequently and with palpable emotion about David Carr, The New York Times media columnist and author, for whom he had great admiration and affection. There was a lingering sense of deep loss he felt long after Carr’s untimely death in 2015 at the age of 58.
Joe Wood, a fellow Village Voice and Yale alum, was another. In July 1999, Wood went for a hike on Mount Rainier and was never seen again. Twenty-five years later, Jim was still haunted by the mysterious vanishing of his 30-something friend and colleague, whose voice, courage and journalistic promise he held in the highest regard.
For Wood, Carr and now Ledbetter, there were so many more stories to tell and obsess over, hard truths to uncover, powerful business, government, and political bogeymen to contend with, and revelations about how society was being radically transformed—for good and bad—by innovation, specifically its impact on business, culture and humanity.
Until he died, Jim remained insatiably curious, articulate and committed to all of this in his work as a journalist, editor, book author and mentor extraordinaire to so many journalists with whom he worked or socialized. He crammed a body of work into his 60 years that five to 10 solidly capable people in media and book publishing couldn’t begin to achieve.
Jim’s abilities, combined with his deep humanity, were just that rare.
Jim and I have been friends for what seems like forever—childhood, actually, when he and his curious, brilliant and witty mind sparked a lifelong friendship between us, with our personal and professional lives intersecting over the years in ways that were joyous, comforting and always very candid.
Jim was so many things: Ridiculously smart, a gifted writer and author, a de facto historian, a trusted friend and a loving father, brother and son. He made me feel intelligent just being in his presence; he counted on me to remind him what mattered most during life's big, difficult storms. With a friendship stretching back to childhood, we could be brutally transparent with each other, knowing that we had each other’s back, no matter the circumstances. His vast accumulation of knowledge, shared generously, challenged me intellectually. I will feel that deep void going forward.
When Chris Roush, founder of Talking Biz News, broke the story about Jim’s death and asked me for comment, I said what everyone in his orbit saw and experienced with him: “Jim was a deep thinker and a brilliant writer, awe-inspiring traits that influenced the wide-ranging beats he covered in his career. It didn’t matter whether it was politics, technology, business or the economy, Jim could always see with great clarity what was coming. His insane recall of the minutiae of historical events gave meaningful context to the subjects he wrote about. Jim was a fabulous storyteller, a keen listener and an even better friend. I know; our friendship dates back to childhood, and our intersecting career paths kept us in close proximity to each other.” (Read many other beautiful tributes from journalists around the world who Jim mentored, guided and inspired here, and my deep gratitude to Roush for immediately returning my call and listening to me ramble in my shock and sadness over the news of this great loss.)
Jim and I typically talked or texted several times a week—about life, the world's chaos, media, politics and baseball. (Upon news of his death, the conclusion of the World Series suddenly didn't matter to this New York Yankees fan as I would no longer have Jim with which to dissect the details of each remaining game. He would have patiently reminded me that the Yankees deservedly lost because of unforced errors and the greatness of the Dodgers, emphasis on the latter being the better team.)
Over the course of his career, Jim covered critical business, innovation, economic and cultural beats, writing smartly and, at times, unsparingly about the subjects that he tackled. As a result, we're all that much smarter because of his insightful work at Inc., Reuters, The Village Voice, Fortune, Observer, Time, Clarim Media and other stops along the way. He also wrote six books, including "Starving to Death on $200 Million a Year," "One Nation Under Gold," "Made Possible By" and "Unwarranted Influence: Dwight D. Eisenhower and the Military-Industrial Complex." It’s nearly impossible to summarize and capture the influence and body of Jim’s work, but Inc. takes a pretty good crack at it here. (Jim formerly served as editor in chief of Inc.) At the time of his death, Jim was working as a thought leadership editor at KPMG.
At various points in our media careers, our paths and beats intersected. We’ve worked for a couple of the same media organizations—Thomson (me) / Reuters (him) and 7 DAYS (he was a staff member, while I was a regular contributor)—but we never actually worked together. In our editorial leadership roles at a number of companies, both of us were deeply immersed in covering global business, particularly financial services; regulation and monetary policy; and the impact of technology, notably fintech, on business and culture.
In his time as editor in chief of FIN, his impact and influence were immediate across the broad landscape of fintech. Jim landed interviews with startup founders and CEOs, including an exclusive interview with Square cofounder Jim McKelvey. He documented the problematic growth of Buy Now, Pay Later, chronicled the downfall of Facebook’s attempt to create an international digital currency, and broke the news about New York State’s groundbreaking restrictions around Bitcoin mining. And, of course, he was always doling out invaluable insights about cryptocurrency market gyrations, crypto company fiascos and choppy attempts at regulatory oversight. All of which is to say that Jim’s observations and analysis were avidly consumed by legions of loyal readers, thanks to being widely cited in media outlets, including National Public Radio, CNBC, FORTUNE, Forbes and Business Insider.
I initially joined FIN as a contributing writer and editor in June 2023. I was also asked by Jim to help him expand FIN’s reach across audiences and platforms. In our weekly editing calls about my FIN stories, I would always say, “Listen, I’m not you, so please rip my shit to shreds. Really, I want you to be brutal in your assessment of my take.” He would unfailingly say (and I always disputed in real time): “Why do you do that to yourself? You see things in stories that I don’t see. I always learn something from you.” That remains highly debatable—seriously, my friend and colleague is a legend—and I will miss our bickering over our respective strengths.
When Jim asked me to take over as editor in chief of FIN in March 2024 so that he could head out to his next adventure at KPMG—no pressure there—we announced the news jointly in the February 24th newsletter. At the time, I wrote this: “I initially had a Bob Newhart-esque reaction to the news [of Jim’s departure]. And who wouldn’t? …The chance to work with him was something I had long aspired to do.”
After he left FIN, Jim and I continued to talk about fintech incessantly as its impact on business and society was a shared obsession, and his insight proved instrumental in how I have been approaching the expansion of the newsletter into a larger multiplatform community. I now feel doubly inspired and committed to carry on what he so brilliantly started with FIN, though, admittedly, I will miss gut-checking my instincts with him.
Today, my reference to that wonderful Bob Newhart-Johnny Carson exchange is filled with raw emotion about Jim’s actual untimely and tragic exit from this world, leaving his family, friends, and past and present colleagues stunned and reeling. (It hasn’t escaped me that Newhart died in July 2024 at 94—a long, rich, accomplished life—and Jim followed three and a half months later, 34 years his junior but with an equally impressive portfolio as a professional and, more, a person. And yet, I wanted more time.)
Jim would undoubtedly fight me on this, but the media world has lost a big thinker and an influential voice and writer. I have lost a treasured friend, whose warmth, wit and wisdom were always breathtaking. Though his words—written, spoken and filmed—were his gift, his greatest achievement, hands down, was his son, Henry, who he loved more than anything. Please keep Jim’s son and his entire family in your thoughts as they—and we—move forward.
RIP, Jim, you were one of the greats, and you made your time count on so many levels. I will miss you forever, and thanks for everything you did—quietly, consistently and with loyalty—to help all of us in media and life elevate our game.
One Stat That Would Have Mattered to James Ledbetter
🦈 Number of the Week: Two days after Jim Ledbetter died, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) published its 2024 Global Impunity Index. It found that Haiti and Israel have “outsized levels of impunity” and are the world’s top offenders in allowing the murderers of journalists to go unpunished. Somalia, Syria and South Sudan round out the top five worst offenders of 2024.
Since the index’s launch 17 years ago, Somalia, Syria and South Sudan have appeared on CPJ’s index for at least a decade; Somalia is one of six countries that have been included in the index every single year, emphasizing “the persistent nature of impunity.” Globally, no one is held to account in 77% of the cases where journalists have been directly targeted in retaliation for their work, according to the CPJ’s findings.
The report found that Haiti, which made its first appearance on the index last year, has fallen victim to criminal gangs “overtaking the country and destabilizing already weak institutions, including the judiciary.” Its rise to the top of CPJ’s index comes in the wake of the unsolved murders of seven journalists within the 10-year index period for 2024. Ranked second, Israel makes its debut in the index following its failure to hold anyone to account in the targeted killing of five journalists in Gaza and Lebanon in a year of relentless war.
Each of the murdered journalists in Gaza and Lebanon was reporting on the war. Of the five, three were wearing press vests at the time they were killed. CPJ is investigating the possible “targeted” murders of at least another 10 journalists. That number could be much higher, given the challenges of documenting war. Overall, Israel has killed a record number of Palestinian journalists since the war began in the wake of the Hamas attacks on October 7, 2023. Deliberately targeting journalists, who are civilians in any conflict, is a war crime, the CPJ’s report stressed.
“Murder is the ultimate weapon to silence journalists,” said CPJ CEO Jodie Ginsberg in the report. “Once impunity takes hold, it sends a clear message: that killing a journalist is acceptable and that those who continue reporting may face a similar fate.”
In total, 13 nations are on the CPJ Index, including democracies and authoritarian regimes, most suffering from one or more of the factors that allow journalists’ killers to evade justice: wars, insurgencies, criminal gangs and local authorities that are unwilling or unable to act and deliver justice.
If so inclined, please make a donation to CPJ in James Ledbetter’s name here.
A Note to Our Readers
After a brief intentional pause to work on building out various new components of our community, FIN will return to its regular weekly publishing schedule on November 6. What’s ahead: FIN is set to roll out more regular coverage of and Fast Forward podcasts on fintech’s hottest leaders and biggest innovations in artificial intelligence and machine learning, payments and lending, embedded finance, cryptocurrencies and digital assets, insurtech, wealthtech, regulation and venture funding. Plus, we have a bunch of new journalists that will begin contributing to FIN in January 2025. More on that very soon—and know that Jim Ledbetter was very excited about what we’ve been planning to expand FIN’s impact and influence.
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Holly, kudos to you for a well composed and heartfelt tribute to your friend and colleague, James Ledbetter. I always enjoyed and thought very highly of Ledbetter's reporting and analysis. But now, thanks to your tribute to him, I've a richer appreciation of the man and his life journey.
That was a very beautiful and moving tribute to Jim, Holly. I was so glad to see FIN live on when you took it over, and now even more so, as just one piece of the outsize legacy and impact he had on so many of us. Thank you for writing this.