MEDIA WINNER: Dean Baquet, A.G. Sulzberger A.G. Sulzberger, Dean Baquet and the New York Times have pulled off quite a coup. After a lengthy negotiation, the New York Times Co has agreed to acquire The Athletic for nearly $550 million. The deal will help the New York Times reach its goal of hitting 10 million digital subscribers by 2025. As of Sept. 30, the Times reported 7.6 million digital subscribers, while The Athletic boasted a following of avid sports fans that totals 1.2 million consumers. Launched in 2016, The Athletic quickly began to pillage the newspaper industry, stockpiling talent at a rapid and expensive rate. Receiving pressure from investors to start delivering a return, The Athletic originally sought a sale closer to $800 million. “We will wait every local paper out and let them continuously bleed until we are the last ones standing,” co-founder of The Athletic, Alex Mather said in 2017. “We will suck them dry of their best talent at every moment. We will make business extremely difficult for them.” Less than five years later, The Athletic has yet to see a profit and is being bought out by one of those local papers they sought to “bleed” to death. The acquisition is a win for the New York Times, which started the week out with a loss: Ben Smith announcing he was leaving the paper, where he served as its buzzy media columnist, to start his own media venture. You win some, you lose some. |