New York Times Co. Said to Have Reached Deal for The Athletic

The New York Times Company has reached an settlement to purchase The Athletic, the net sports activities information outlet with 1.2 million subscriptions, in a deal valued at round $550 million, in accordance to two individuals with data of the matter. The acquisition might assist The Times attain 10 million subscriptions forward of its 2025 aim.

Started in Chicago in 2016 by two media entrepreneurs, Alex Mather and Adam Hansmann, The Athletic was made for die-hard followers who weren’t discovering the in-depth protection they craved at a time when newspapers had been in decline, Sports Illustrated was offered and ESPN started shedding journalists.

The Athletic employed outstanding sports activities journalists from throughout the nation, bringing protection of video games and the newest sports activities controversies to readers who had grown accustomed to getting their information on-line. It had a reporter protecting almost each main skilled sports activities crew in North America, in addition to a number of prime European soccer golf equipment, whereas additionally serving up magazine-length function tales and podcasts.

The web site now has about 600 staff — roughly 400 of them editorial workers members, making it the second-largest employer of sports activities reporters within the nation, behind the Disney-owned ESPN. Like various digital media corporations which have discovered success in recent times, The Athletic depends on subscribers, reasonably than advertisers, as its most important income. A major injection of money got here in January 2020, when The Athletic raised $50 million from various traders.

Recently, as its fast subscription progress started to gradual, The Athletic has explored numerous choices, together with promoting a minority or majority stake within the firm, with non-public fairness corporations and companies as potential consumers. Discussions between The Times and The Athletic had been held final summer time, however the two events couldn’t come to phrases, in accordance to one of many individuals with data of the talks.

Eileen Murphy, a spokeswoman for The Times, declined to remark. A spokeswoman for The Athletic didn’t reply to a request for remark. The Information first reported information of the pending deal. The individuals with data of the matter spoke on the situation of anonymity as a result of the talks had been confidential.

The deal would convey The Times a whole lot of extra reporters with an experience — sports activities — that might appeal to readers who might not have been inclined to subscribe to the paper.

It was unclear whether or not The Athletic might be built-in into The Times’s sports activities protection or exist as a stand-alone publication beneath Times possession. The Times at the moment has about 2,000 journalists worldwide.

For The Times, the addition of The Athletic would additionally imply an infusion of paying readers. Meredith Kopit Levien, the corporate’s chief government, has persistently emphasised the significance of including digital subscribers since taking cost of the paper’s enterprise in 2020. At the tip of the third quarter of 2021, the paper had reached 8.4 million complete subscriptions.

The paper’s progress has included main acquisitions. In 2016, the Times Company purchased the product advice web site The Wirecutter and its sibling web site, The Sweethome, for greater than $30 million. In 2020, The Times purchased Serial Productions, the corporate behind the “Serial” podcast, for greater than $25 million.

Mr. Mather, The Athletic’s chief government, and Mr. Hansmann, its president, met whereas working for the train app Strava. When they began their web site, they stated that a lot of the nation’s sports activities protection was “empty calories” produced by slowly dying newspapers, including {that a} media firm targeted on journalism for sports activities followers could be higher for readers.

Early on, Mr. Mather boasted in an interview with The Times that The Athletic’s aim was to let native newspapers “continuously bleed until we are the last ones standing.”

Katie Robertson contributed reporting.