The New York Times announces to acquire The Athletic

On Thursday, The New York Times, in its diversification drive has announced to acquire sports news website The Athletic. In a statement, New York Times chief Meredith Kopit Levien said, “Acquiring The Athletic puts us in a position to be a global leader in sports journalism and offer English speakers around the world another reason to turn to the Times Company to meet their daily news and life needs." 

The Athletic 

In the past six years, The Athletic has become a leader in sports coverage. In order to acquire The Athletic, the US based newspaper company will pay $550 million. As reported by online technology publication The Information, the transaction is expected to be finalized in the first quarter.

Levien said, "the addition will help the Times achieve its goal of more than 10 million subscribers, from eight million currently."  

The statement by The New York Times 

"The Athletic was founded in January 2016 by Alex Mather and Adam Hansmann. It had about 1.2 million subscribers at the end of 2021", according to the statement.

As per Crunchbase, The Athletic has collected funds amounting to a total of $139.5 million from investors since its beginning. It has raised funds in January 2020, after which it was valued at between $500 million and $1 billion. 

"The Athletic will become an independent subsidiary of The New York Times, and the founders will stay on as co-presidents, with Mather also serving as general manager and Hansmann as its chief operating officer", the statement said.