US: Group Nine to buy PopSugar

Digital publisher Group Nine Media has agreed to acquire women-focused publisher PopSugar, reported The New York Times. This is the latest merger of new-media firms hoping that greater scale will help them sell online ads, where Facebook and Google dominate.

The all-stock deal values PopSugar at more than US$300 million, according to people familiar with the matter, and will give its shareholders more than 30% ownership of the combined company, which will keep the Group Nine Media name. Group Nine’s shareholders will own the rest.

Group Nine—whose properties include The Dodo, a digital outlet focused on animal stories and videos—and news destination NowThis, was valued at more than US$600 million in the deal, the people said. That is consistent with the valuation from its latest funding round last month, the people added. Group Nine, whose largest shareholder is nonfiction TV programmer Discovery, has raised US$190 million to date. The combined company is worth about US$1 billion, according to a person familiar with the matter.

Group Nine’s purchase of PopSugar is the third digital-media deal in the past two weeks. Vox Media recently agreed to purchase New York Media in an all-stock deal that valued New York at about US$105 million.

Full Content: New York Times

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