Exclusive: Ziff Davis' Everyday Health Group acquires TheSkimm

• "It's about their audience and their credibility as a brand," said Everyday Health Group president Dan Stone. "It's fundamentally a news and lifestyle brand that reaches over 5 million millennial and Gen X women, and that is a core audience for us."

Between the lines: Everyday Health Group's portfolio includes general consumer-focused websites, such as Everyday Health and DailyOM, as well as brands catered to medical professionals, like MedPage Today and Health eCareers.

• It also houses several popular pregnancy and maternity companies, like What to Expect and BabyCenter.

Zoom in: TheSkimm will sit under Everyday Health Group's consumer portfolio, said Stone.

• It will operate as a standalone brand within the portfolio and will retain its branding and staff.
• TheSkimm co-CEOs Danielle Weisberg and Carly Zakin, who co-founded the brand in 2012, will stay on and continue to lead the brand under its new owners.
• The outlet currently has more than 75 full-time employees. There are no plans to reduce staff as part of the deal.

State of play: TheSkimm will lean into its health and wellness coverage under its new owners but has no plans to change its editorial strategy broadly, they added.

• "One of the hallmarks of TheSkimm has been knowing our audience really well, knowing what has been on her mind, anticipating her needs and growing with her. I think health is an example of a category that has sort of crossed all intersections and verticals of her life," said Zakin.
• Over the years, TheSkimm has made a concerted effort to invest in health and wellness content catered to women and moms, launching a collaboration with Moms First to address the childcare crisis in the U.S. and reproducing the content from the federal website on reproductive rights once it went dark earlier this year.

By the numbers: TheSkimm currently publishes several newsletters, including the Daily Skimm, Skimm Money, Skimm Shopping, Skimm Well, SKM Report and Skimm Parenting.

• It has 5 million subscribers across its email products. Asked why that number is lower than previous newsletter subscriber counts of over 7 million, Weisberg said its numbers reflect consistent and engaged readers.
• TheSkimm has raised $28.4 million to date, which is modest compared with most media companies that launched in the 2010s. Major investors in TheSkimm include RRE, Homebrew, and GV (formerly Google Ventures).

• Asked if the company is profitable, the founders said they have a track record as a company of profitability.
• While the company does not disclose financial figures, Axios reported that it brought in roughly $20 million in revenue in 2019.

The big picture: TheSkimm has been exploring a possible sale for years, but more recently pushed to find a non-media buyer that could take advantage of its highly-engaged audience of young women on email.

• The outlet, co-founded 13 years ago by Weisberg and Zakin, has managed to create a household name for itself while remaining committed to its audience.
• Over the years, it's held conversations with a slew of different brands, including those in the financial services and luxury spaces.
• "There's always been interest in TheSkimm that has been rumored about for a while. And for us, it was really about recognizing that TheSkimm as a brand has huge opportunities to continue to grow, and from a business perspective, what is the best way to do that," Weisberg said.

The bottom line: Despite a long sale process, the deal provides a path for the brand to continue growing in an otherwise difficult marketplace.

• Jeff Zucker, CEO of RedBird IMI and theSkimm board member, called the deal "a terrific opportunity for growth."