The deal is finally done! According to The Information, The New York Times has agreed to a $550 million deal to buy The Athletic.
Talks between the two sides go back months. In fact, there was a time when they failed to reach a deal and The Athletic began courting other potential investors.
For The New York Times, they acquire a nice subscriber boost. The company has publicly stated in the past that it would like to get to 10 million digital subscribers by 2025. Right now, The Times is sitting at 8.5 million total subscribers, with 7.6 million that are digital only.
The appeal for The Athletic is pretty obvious. $550 million is a nice pay day. It is even nicer when that money comes as an all-cash offer and the bosses get to keep their jobs.
Hype couldn’t have been louder for The Athletic when it launched six years ago. While the company recently received a $500 million valuation, it has been losing subscribers and employees since the pandemic began. Ideally, The New York Times can bring some stability that will allow The Athletic’s content creators to work with some feeling of security.
Right now, this is merely a report, although an official announcement is expected to come Thursday before the close of the stock market.
