Nate Silver's FiveThirtyEight was acquired by ESPN in 2013 after it nailed the 2012 US presidential election and using data knowledge to predict baseball outcomes. Silver made his name by combining his statistical knowledge, writing skill and creating a brand new field called the "data journalism".
It was rumored that Silver told people there is 71.9% chance the business is profitable.
The news was first reported by the big lead.