Daily Wire is raising money and eyeing a public offering, but its heavy dependence on one star makes this a risky bet for investors.

• Daily Wire raised $100 million at a $750 million value, hoping to go public in 18 months at a $2 billion price tag.
• Subscriber numbers have fallen from a peak of 1.26 million to about 771,000, and revenue growth has stalled or gone negative.
• The big worry is that most subscribers come for Ben Shapiro alone — if he stopped making content, the business could collapse.
• The company turned down buyout offers over $1 billion, taking only minority investors, a sign it believes it can survive and grow on its own.
• The fix many point to is hiring a real CEO to run the business, the same move that helped MrBeast scale up fast.

Outlook: Daily Wire's future looks binary — either it builds new stars and shows beyond Shapiro and thrives, or political commentary fatigue drags it under within five years.