Breitbart was born in Los Angeles, California, on February 1, 1969. He was the adopted son of Gerald and Arlene Breitbart, a restaurant owner and banker respectively, and grew up in the affluent neighborhood of Brentwood, Los Angeles. He was adopted at three weeks old and raised Jewish. His biological parents had been Irish American.

Breitbart launched his first website as a news site; it is often linked to by the Drudge Report and other websites. It has wire stories from the Associated Press, Reuters, Agence France-Presse, Fox News, PR Newswire, and U.S. Newswire, as well as direct links to a number of major international newspapers. Its political viewpoint as well as its audience runs to the right within the U.S. political spectrum. In 2007, Breitbart launched a video blog, Breitbart.tv.  During a stay in Israel, Breitbart and Larry Solov conceived of the idea of founding Breitbart News Network, with "the aim of starting a site that would be unapologetically pro-freedom and pro-Israel. We were sick of the anti-Israel bias of the mainstream media and J-Street."  Solov has written:  One night in Jerusalem, when we were getting ready for dinner, Andrew turned to me and asked if I would de-partner from the 800-person law firm where I was practicing and become business partners with him. He said he needed my help to create a media company. He needed my help to "change the world." ... We were blown away by the spirit, tenacity, and resourcefulness of the Israeli people on that trip. Andrew could be quite convincing, not to mention inspiring, and I decided right there and then to "throw away" (my Mom's phrase) a perfectly good, successful and safe career in order to start a "new media" company with Andrew Breitbart.  In 2011, Breitbart and one of his editors Larry O'Connor were sued for defamation by Shirley Sherrod, who had been fired after Breitbart posted a video of a speech given by Sherrod. The video had been selectively edited to suggest that she had purposely discriminated against a white farmer, while in reality the unedited video told the story of how she had helped that farmer. In July 2015, it was reported that Sherrod and Breitbart's estate had reached a tentative settlement. It was reported October 1, 2016, that the lawsuit was settled.

What type of news did it cover?
it is often linked to by the Drudge Report and other websites. It has wire stories from the Associated Press, Reuters,