Leaf

Sard Verbinnen & Co. represents Leaf Group, creator of online consumer brands, as it gets acquired by Graham Holdings Co., which was Washington Post Co., in an all-cash $323M deal.

Santa Monica-based Leaf chalked up $212M in fiscal 2020 revenues and an $8.8M loss from brands including Saatchi Art (gallery), Hunker (property tours, home decor), Society6 (wall art), Livestrong & Well+Good (healthy living) and Cuteness (viral animal videos, celebrity pets).

Timothy O’Shaughnessy, CEO of Graham, said his company looks for “businesses that can prosper under our ownership and Leaf Group’s collection of marketplace and media brands make for a growing company that can do just that.”

Graham’s key holdings are seven broadcast TV stations and the Kaplan educational unit.

Sard Verbinnen’s John Christiansen and Nate Johnson represent Leaf Group.