Penske Media has now acquired a number of digital media brands under Vox Media, including The Verge, Eater and SB Nation. The acquisition price was not disclosed.
Penske Media was previously a shareholder in Vox Media, which manages brands such as The Verge and others. A few weeks earlier, the owners of Vox Media also sold their podcast division, along with the website Vox.com and New York Magazine to separate companies.
Along with this acquisition, Penske Media also formed a new subsidiary called PMX, and included various brands and publishing portfolios under one roof, including Billboard, Variety, Hollywood Reporter along with the acquired brands – Eater, The Verge, SB Nation, Popsugar, The Dodo, Punch and Thrillist. With this move, a total of 25 publishing brands are placed under PMX, making it one of the largest digital publishers.
These sales and acquisitions come as various digital media brands face challenges in maintaining their traffic and advertising revenue – due to challenges from social media platforms that no longer promote links, as well as taking a large amount of advertising marketing funds that usually go to media companies. Previously, around 2015, Vox Media once stole the show with a market value of around $1 billion at the time, but that value has subsequently fallen year after year. In addition to Vox Media, this year we also saw Buzzfeed, which was once worth almost $2 billion, also sell a majority stake to new owners for $120 million.
