The Athletic has about 1.2 million subscribers, which will help The Times reach its own target of 10 million subscribers.
The New York Times (NYT) – Get New York Times Company Class A Report reportedly has agreed to purchase sports news web site The Athletic a for about $550 million.
The news originally came from The Information, which cited a source with knowledge of the situation.
The purchase price represents an increase from The Athletic’s valuation of about $500 million in its latest funding round in January, according to Axios.
The Athletic had about 1.2 million paying subscribers as of November, according to Bloomberg. That will help The Times reach its lofty target of 10 million subscribers for 2025. It had 8.3 million subscribers for digital and print combined as of Sept. 30.
The Athletic, which began in 2016, has said it doesn’t foresee turning a profit until 2023. So The Times may want to raise its subscription price. The Athletic currently offers subscriptions for $7.99 a month or $2.99 a month on an annual basis.
The company reportedly had previous merger talks with The Times and Axios in the past. The Athletic has raised $140 million in five funding rounds.
It has brought in some well-known writers, such as baseball correspondent Ken Rosenthal and basketball commentator Shams Charania.
The Athletic co-founders Alex Mather and Adam Hansmann will stay with the publication, according to Axios.
Mather, famously told the New York Times in 2017 that, “We will wait every local paper out and let them continuously bleed, until we are the last ones standing. We will suck them dry of their best talent at every moment.”
He subsequently offered an apology.
Sports Illustrated’s The Spun offered a sampling of Twitter reaction to the reported acquisition.
