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>> Long form sports journalism already has a large, struggling entity: The Athletic Struggling? The New York Times paid over half a billion dollars for it in 2
by rufus_foreman 3y ago
>> Long form sports journalism already has a large, struggling entity: The Athletic
Struggling? The New York Times paid over half a billion dollars for it in 2022.
- graphe 3y ago> The company began exploring a sale to a larger media company in 2021, following continued unprofitability, driven by high expenses and reliance on venture capital funding instead of operational revenue. As of that time, the site had 1.2 million subscribers and $80 million in revenue, having raised $55 million in venture capital funding. The article on Wikipedia said NYT laid off it's own sports writers. Why would it need to be sold if it wasn't known to be struggling?
- rufus_foreman 3y agoWhy would someone pay $550,000,000 for it if it was known to be struggling? The founders were criticized at the time for having left money on the table by selling.
- graphe 3y agoApparently to save money on unions.
- apocalyptic0n3 3y agoMost common theory is union busting. NYT would eventually layoff its entire (unionized) sports division in favor of the Athletic, which isn't unionized. Most critics have accused them of union busting by outsourcing their sports reporting to a non-union shop.
- apocalyptic0n3 3y agoYes. They sold to NYT because they didn't have a path to profitability or IPO. They were looking at a possible closure before the sale and lost $55M the year before the sale. Since the sale, things have been a little less clear because NYT is more opaque about it. Regardless, they had layoffs last year and ended their entire beat reporter team because it wasn't drawing national audiences enough. There have been various reports over the last year that NYT is struggling to turn the unit profitable as well.