# Michael Sanchez

> Michael Sanchez is the New York-based co-founder and CEO of Raptive, formerly CafeMedia and AdThrive. A co-founder of CafeMom with childhood friend Andrew Shue, he also co-founded Do Something and the World Cup newspaper ’94 Cup Daily. His background includes junior chess, soccer at the University of Virginia, professional soccer and mathematics teaching in Zimbabwe, and an honors graduation from Columbia Law School. He now leads a business supporting independent publishers and advocates for creator compensation as AI changes content discovery.

- **Role:** Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer at Raptive
- **Organizations:** Raptive, CafeMedia, CafeMom, AdThrive, Do Something, ’94 Cup Daily
- **Education:** B.A. in Economics, University of Virginia, Law degree, with honors, Columbia Law School
- **Known for:** Co-founded CafeMom, which reported more than four million monthly unique visitors by September 2008., Co-founded and led the profitable ’94 Cup Daily., Co-founded the youth civic participation organization Do Something.

## Career timeline

- **Childhood** — Traveled internationally as a junior chess player, gave exhibitions and drew with the player ranked third in the world.
- **Before law school** — Played professional soccer in Zimbabwe while teaching high school mathematics.
- **1993** — Co-founded Do Something with Andrew Shue; served as president.
- **1994** — Co-founded and served as CEO of ’94 Cup Daily, a newspaper covering the World Cup in the United States.
- **2006** — Launched CafeMom with Andrew Shue.
- **2016** — CafeMedia acquired AdThrive.
- **2018** — CafeMedia sold its owned publications to RockYou and focused on AdThrive’s publisher services.
- **2023** — CafeMedia and AdThrive adopted the Raptive brand.
- **2024** — Opened Raptive’s Independents’ Day briefing in Washington and advocated for creator protections in the AI era.
- **2025** — Submitted recommendations on protecting independent creators to the Office of Science and Technology Policy.
- **2026** — Announced Raptive Intelligence, the AlchemyAI acquisition and chief AI officer John Roa; Raptive also launched Community.

## Achievements

- Co-founded CafeMom, which reported more than four million monthly unique visitors by September 2008.
- Co-founded and led the profitable ’94 Cup Daily.
- Co-founded the youth civic participation organization Do Something.
- Leads Raptive, which reported $4 billion in cumulative publisher payments in February 2026.
- Played soccer at the University of Virginia and professionally in Zimbabwe.

## Latest updates

- **2026-09** — Raptive announced Community, a free, ad-supported platform with a 50/50 advertising revenue split between creators and platform.
- **2026-06** — Sanchez introduced Raptive Intelligence in a note to publishers; Raptive appointed John Roa chief AI officer and acquired AlchemyAI.
- **2026-02** — Raptive reported $4 billion in cumulative payouts to publisher partners.
- **2025-03** — Submitted an AI Action Plan response to OSTP focused on independent creators, compensation and competition.

## Links

- Website: https://raptive.com/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-sanchez-5a56101/

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/michael-sanchez
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-10-26