Vox Media sells podcast biz, some publishing brands to James Murdoch's Lupa Systems

Zoom in: Lupa has agreed to acquire New York Magazine, the Vox Media Podcast Network and the news site Vox from the digital media group Vox Media.

• Those properties will operate as a subsidiary of Lupa Systems called Vox Media.
• In acquiring the New York Magazine publishing group, Lupa Systems will also inherit brands such as Grub Street, Intelligencer, The Cut and Vulture.
• Vox Media's remaining brands, including Eater, Popsugar, SB Nation, The Dodo and The Verge, are not included in the transaction. The company did not detail a plan for how its remaining assets would be managed.

Between the lines: Vox Media co-founder and CEO Jim Bankoff will join Lupa Systems as the CEO of the new company upon closing.

By the numbers: While deal terms were not disclosed, Axios reported Tuesday that the deal would value the assets moving to Lupa Systems at around $300 million.

• Vox Media's largest shareholder, Penske Media Corporation (PMC), would presumably become an even larger stakeholder in the remaining assets, if the deal pays out preferred shareholders.

Catch up quick: Vox Media acquired New York Magazine's parent company, New York Media in 2019, for around $105 million. It later acquired digital publisher Group Nine Media in 2022 in an all-stock deal.

• Those deals were meant to give Vox Media the scale necessary to compete with bigger tech companies for eyeballs and attention.
• But in recent years, Vox Media has consolidated some of those brands. It sold the gaming site Polygon last May. In 2023, it spun out NowThis, a site it acquired in the Group Nine Media deal.
• Pressure to sell has been compounded in recent years amid a volatile ad market and changes to internet search and social media algorithms that make it harder for publishers to monetize scaled web traffic.

Context: In 2023, Vox Media raised $100 million from PMC, home to publishing brands such as Variety, Rolling Stone and Billboard and events such as SXSW and Dick Clark Productions, to help weather a turbulent digital ad market.

• That deal valued Vox Media at around $500 million. The company was previously worth roughly double that when it raised money in 2015.

• Over the past few years, Vox Media had discussed other strategic options, including a sale of all or part of its business, Axios reported.

The big picture: Murdoch founded Lupa Systems after stepping down as CEO of 21st Century Fox. He later resigned from the board of News Corp., citing disagreements with the editorial content published by the company, which is home to the Wall Street Journal and other publications.

• In recent years, Lupa Systems has invested in a few media brands and experiential companies, such as Tribeca Enterprises and Vice Media.

What they're saying: "This acquisition aligns well with our existing holdings and investments and reflects both our interest in the forward edge of culture and our deep commitment to ambitious journalism and agenda-setting conversations," said James Murdoch.

• "It will allow us to apply new tools across the businesses we are building, adding substantial production, distribution, and editorial capability to our group," he added.
• "We are incredibly proud to have built and scaled several of the leading media properties of this generation. Together under Lupa's stewardship we are primed to be the best home for talent and the most dynamic media company of this new era," Bankoff said.

What to watch: Vox Media's podcast network could serve as a marketing and distribution channel for some of Murdoch's experiential investments.