Univision has sold its Gizmodo Media Group to private equity firm Great Hill Partners for an undisclosed sum. The group of sites involved in the sale includes Deadspin, women’s blog Jezebel, gadget and electronics site Gizmodo, and video game blog Kotaku.
The Wall Street Journal reports that Great Hill Partners plans to increase the sites’ revenue by creating more “brand safe content.” What that means exactly is unclear, but Deadspin, Jezebel, and The Onion, which was also a part of the sale, have all been brand un-safe by design since their respective launches.
Ben Mullin, who broke the story for WSJ, acquired an internal email from new group CEO James Spanfeller.
Univision acquired the Gizmodo sites in 2016. They were auctioned off as part of Gawker Media’s bankruptcy proceedings.
The sites acquired by Great Hill Partners do have a potentially valuable audience to advertisers. In total, the sites reached a combined 67 million readers in February. It will be interesting to see how that number changes as more “brand safe content” starts to appear under those brands’ banners.
