New York Times Purchases The Athletic for $550 Million

New York Times Purchases The Athletic for $550 Million

The New York Times Co. has purchased The Athletic, a subscription-based sports media site, for roughly $550 million, according to a report from The Information early Thursday morning.

The Athletic charges customers $72 annually for access to their local and national coverage of sports and teams across the United States and internationally. The site employs nearly 600 people full-time and isn’t expected to be profitable until 2023, per the report. The NYT expects the acquisition to broaden the scope of subscribers to a platform that currently boasts 8.3 million subscribers, with a goal of 10 million subscribers by 2025.

An article published by The Times reports that the media company was looking to expand its coverage of sports, and the acquisition of The Athletic will do just that, increasing their coverage and bringing an influx of reporters to the NYT’s relatively small sports staff.

“The deal would bring hundreds of additional sports reporters to The Times’s current staff of about 40 sports journalists. Their added expertise could do more to attract readers who may not have been inclined to become subscribers.”

VIA The New York Times

According to Axios, The Athletic has earned nearly $140 million in revenue since its founding in 2016, but the impact of the pandemic led to incredible financial strain in recent years. The company reported $47 million in revenue in 2020, yet with live sporting events canceled, the company burned through $41 million, per Deadline.

The Athletic’s founders, Alex Mather and Adam Hansmann, are expected to stay with the company after the purchase. Spokespeople for The Times and The Athletic declined to comment to a number of various news outlets. A formal announcement of the acquisition is expected by Thursday evening.

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