Sports Media Brand The Athletic Is Bought By New York Times For $550 Million – Reports

deadline.com:

After on-again, off-again conversations in recent months, The New York Times Co. has reportedly agreed to acquire digital sports media brand The Athletic for $550 million.The Information, citing a source familiar with the deal, said it was sealed despite ongoing losses at The Athletic.

The startup had $47 million in revenue in 2020 while burned through $41 million.Axios had also explored a potential acquisition of The Athletic, but those talks did not last.

After things went quiet for a time last year, The New York Times Co. resumed negotiations on an exclusive basis in December.Axios also reported the news of the Times deal, following The Information, indicating that a formal announcement was expected after the close of the stock market today.The Athletic, which was founded in 2015, has looked to prosper from the decline of local newspapers.

It has scooped up dozens of well-established names from the sports departments of papers across the country, charging subscribers $72 a year to acccess their reporting on local teams.The transaction is aimed at boosting the effort by the Times to reach 10 million subscribers by 2025.