Sports news site The Athletic will be acquired by the New York Times on Thursday, US media reported, in the latest move by the popular American newspaper in its quest for diversification.
The online Technology Information Bulletin reported that the newspaper will pay $550 million to The Athletic, which has become a leader in sports coverage over the past six years as it has benefited from a challenging environment for local media.
At the end of 2021, The Athletic had nearly 1.2 million subscribers, according to media reports, and was growing at a rapid pace, launching a British version in 2019 and a partnership with Australian television group Optus Sport last year.
He has also produced several podcasts, including The Lead, the most famous. But media reports say it has struggled to achieve profitability and was considering a change of strategy.
The New York Times in recent years has used target acquisitions to diversify its audience by publishing everything from recipes to podcasts.
In 2016, it bought Wirecutter for product testing and recommendation, and in June 2020 it acquired Serial Productions, the studio behind the successful podcast of the same name.
According to Crunchbase, The Athletic has raised a total of $139.5 million from investors since its inception, and was valued between $500 million and $1 billion when it last raised funds in January 2020.
The Times and Athletic did not respond to AFP’s requests for comment.
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source: The42 Rugby Weekly/ SoundCloud
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