The News
Semafor this week announced the launch of The CEO Signal, a new video and audio series featuring high-level peer conversations with global business leaders about their most consequential decisions — and what those decisions signal about the future of the new world economy. The show is hosted by Penny Pritzker, founder and chairman of PSP Partners and former US Secretary of Commerce, and Andrew Edgecliffe-Johnson, Semafor’s CEO Editor and veteran chronicler of global business.
The CEO Signal video and audio show is an expansion of The CEO Signal, Semafor’s invitation-only weekly briefing, read exclusively by senior executives at companies with $500 million or more in annual revenues. That briefing — a curated guide to the ideas, leaders, and companies shaping global business, edited by Edgecliffe-Johnson — counts 75 percent of Fortune 500 company CEOs among its engaged subscribers.
The show debuts ahead of Semafor World Economy, April 13–17 in Washington, DC: the largest annual gathering of top global CEOs in the United States and the definitive live-journalism convening on the new world economy. The CEO Signal is the editorial through-line of that convening and a year-round complement — CEO insights and analysis exclusively for the world’s most consequential decision-makers.
The View From Penny Pritzker
“CEOs are navigating significant challenges — from economic uncertainty to the AI revolution and workforce disruption. Experienced leaders will rise to those challenges by creating clarity, setting direction, and leading their company, employees and shareholders to the other side. The CEO Signal allows us to have candid conversations with the leaders who are writing today’s playbooks in real time and truly shaping what comes next,” said Penny Pritzker.
The View From Andrew Edgecliffe-Johnson
“Since it launched in January 2025, we’ve established The CEO Signal as a unique source of insight into how the world’s top executives tackle the myriad challenges confronting them. I’m delighted to be able to bring that ethos, coupled with Penny’s inside-the-boardroom perspective, to this new show, which will be a home for conversations of rare depth and candor about what best practice looks like in corporate leadership today,” said Andrew Edgecliffe-Johnson.
The View From Ben Smith
“There is a flood of media products aimed at aspiring business leaders, and fewer featuring frank conversations between and for those leaders themselves,” said Ben Smith, Semafor Editor-in-Chief and Co-Founder. “The CEO Signal has been a hit for us because of Edge’s high altitude, and Penny brings unmatched experience, gravitas, and chemistry to this revealing new show.”
The View From Justin B. Smith
“The CEO Signal briefing has built one of the most engaged audiences in business media — senior executives who want intelligence, not noise. The show is a natural evolution of that, bringing Penny Pritzker and Andrew Edgecliffe-Johnson into direct conversation with the CEOs navigating AI, geopolitical uncertainty, and a workforce being remade in real time,” said Semafor CEO and Co-Founder, Justin B. Smith. “This is a moment when the decisions being made in corner offices have never mattered more, and Semafor journalism is uniquely positioned to explore them with journalistic dedication to delivering actionable insights.”
Know More
In the first episode released this week, Pritzker and Edgecliffe-Johnson speak with Starbucks CEO Brian Niccol about taking the helm of one of the world’s most recognizable brands and the decisions required to reset culture, operations, and strategy at scale.
Pritzker’s experience as a founder, investor, and cabinet-level policymaker gives her a practitioner’s lens on the decisions that define modern leadership – bringing the perspective of a peer to the interviews. Edgecliffe-Johnson’s decades covering global business provide the editorial rigor and institutional context to surface the context and the stakes behind each leadership story.
The result is a series that distills practical, tangible leadership insights from CEOs, designed for an audience of their peers. Each episode pulls back from the day-to-day headlines to explore how today’s top executives make critical decisions, what they have learned about leadership at scale, and what it takes to turn a strategy into real change.
About Semafor
Semafor is the world’s fastest growing independent news media company that delivers intelligence through its reporting and live convenings. Founded in 2022 by veteran media executives Justin B. Smith and Ben Smith, Semafor provides intelligent, transparent journalism that cuts through the noise and distills complexity for leaders to navigate the new world economy. With a global sensibility, reach, and reporting hubs now spanning from Washington DC, Silicon Valley, Wall Street to sub-Saharan Africa and the Gulf, Semafor’s journalists around the world power its suite of daily first-read email briefings and signature live journalism convenings. The flagship Semafor World Economy, anchored in Washington DC, is the largest annual gathering of top global CEOs in North America; Semafor’s convening on emerging economies, The Next Three Billion, is held annually at UNGA and expanded this year to South Africa, East Africa, and UAE. In 2024, Semafor was named to Fast Company’s Annual List of the World’s Most Innovative Companies for “rewriting the story” on international reporting.