It’s getting frothy in Webland. German media conglomerate Axel Springer said Tuesday that it is buying 88 percent of website Business insider (BI) for $343 million. Axel already owns 9 percent of BI.
Founded in 2009 by onetime DoubleClick CEO Kevin Ryan and others, Business Insider covers the entire business waterfront. The site also keeps close tabs on technology, celebrity, politics, entertainment, culture and sports.
If and when approved by regulators, the deal should expand the already ample pitching opportunities for brands, organizations and PR agencies to get their companies and clients exposure and their stories told via BI.
Axel said the addition of BI’s 76 million unique monthly visitors will increase Axel Springer’s worldwide digital audience by two-thirds, to approximately 200 million users, making the company one of the world’s six largest digital publishers in terms of reach.
For example, Axel Springer has significant stakes in Ozy.com, the online magazine, as well as Mic.com, the news site focused on millennials. In April, it entered a partnership with Politico for the European edition of the political publication.
Under the deal, Henry Blodget will continue his role as BI Editor. Ditto for Julie Hansen, the website’s COO-president, according to the Atlantic.
Trump Media & Technology Group today reported a $58.2M net loss on $4.1M in 2023 revenues, a disclosure that drove its stock price down 22.6 percent to $47.96.
Barry Pollack, an attorney at Wall Street’s Harris St. Laurent & Wechsler, has registered Julian Assange as a client with the Justice Dept. “out of an abundance of caution.”
Paramount Global to slash 800 jobs in what chief executive Bob Bakish calls part of an effort to “return the company to earnings growth"... Rolling Stone editor-in-chief Noah Shachtman is exiting at the end of the month due to disagreements with chief executive Gus Wenner over the direction the magazine is taking... The New York Times broke the $1 billion barrier in annual revenue from digital subscriptions in 2023... Press Forward is investing more than $500 million to strengthen local newsrooms.
The majority of news articles are read within the first three days of publication, according to a recent report.
The Los Angeles Times gives pink slips to 115 people or 20 percent of its newsroom staff... TIME is also laying off about 30 employees, which is approximately 15 percent of its editorial staff... The Baltimore Banner, which was launched by Stewart Bainum in 2022 after he failed to buy the Baltimore Sun, added 500 subscribers per day in the three days following Sinclair Broadcast Group's deal to purchase the Sun.
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