The deal formally winds down an era at Vox Media, which had sold its namesake site and podcast assets as well as New York magazine to James Murdoch.
, the digital publisher that rose in the 2010s with ambitions to build itself up as a modern version of old school magazine titans like Time Inc., has sold off its remaining assets in a deal that winds down an era.
Publishing brands, including food authority Eater, tech destination The Verge, sports network SB Nation, travel brand Thrillist, lifestyle site Popsugar, animal story-focused The Dodo and drinking culture site Punch, were acquired by Penske Media, the companies said on Thursday. The move formally concludes the multiyear sales process for Vox Media, which had been steered by CEO Jim Bankoff since 2009.
On May 20, the exec revealed a sale of crown jewel magazinewith Kara Swisher and Scott Galloway) and namesake site, Vox, to Fox empire scion James Murdoch’s venture firm, which Bankoff will join and lead. Eater, The Verge and the other publishing brands were cleaved off into what was called RemainCo, run by Ryan Pauley, the revenue, strategy and operations-focused executive who has been at Vox Media since 2013.
Speculation at the time of Murdoch’sbuy centered on whether each of the publishing assets would be sold separately or be shopped as whole package. One factor in the dealmaking was a 2023 pact between Penske Media and Vox in which the Jay Penske-run company had taken a stake in the Bankoff-led media firm.
Now those brands, along with Vox’s branded studios as well as its ad tech products like marketplace Concert and data platform Forte will join a publishing company that also ownsand other publications. Pauley will transition to Penske, joining as president of PMX . Penske exec Tom Finn will become COO of the division and Ken Delalcazar will be CFO.
“I am very proud to welcome this tremendous team and leading brands to Penske Media,” said founder and CEO Jay Penske. “We have long admired these unique brands and companies, and I’m thrilled to welcome Ryan Pauley to PMC. ” Pauley added, “Our opportunity now is to steward and grow these brands with a continued focus on brand leadership, editorial strength, audience connection, community, and live events.
” Vox, originally founded in 2005 with a very of-the-moment name of SportsBlogs Inc., launched with SB Nation, a collection of team-specific verticals focused on fan-driven reaction that contrasted with the more staid local newspaper coverage in that era. This was around the time when rival, fan-centric sports sites like Bleacher Report were scaling up and aggregators like The Huffington Post were seen as the next wave of media.
And it was a few years removed from the rise of Millennial-focused media companies like BuzzFeed , Mashable , Business Insider , Mic and Vice Media . Those outlets had attracted major venture capital dollars in a bet that the transition from linear TV and print would result in consumers flocking to new brands on the open web.in 2011 and launched gaming site Polygon the next year .
It made a bet on the Lockhart Steele-founded, real estate-focused Curbed network in 2013. Then it hired away‘s Wonkblog editor, Ezra Klein, to launch its namesake explainer site Vox a year later In a bid to scale up in 2022, Vox merged with the Ben Lerer-founded Group Nine Media, which brought The Dodo, PopSugar and Thrillist into the fold, along with video-focused politics site NowThis, which was spun off as an independent site a year later.
Of the deal to acquire the remaining Vox brands, Craig Perreault, president of Penske Media, which also owns festivals like SXSW and stages events like the Golden Globes, stated, “These distinct digital brands bring highly engaged audiences with them, complement our existing portfolio, strengthen our content offering, and expand the possibilities for the hundreds of live events PMX will produce each year. ”
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