Digital media companies that waited too long to sell all or part of their businesses saw their final sale prices plummet from their peak valuations.

Why it matters: Peak valuations came at a frothy time in digital publishing when social distribution, search traffic and scale-based audience growth convinced investors these were the next generation of media giants.

Driving the news: Vox Media's advanced sale talks with James Murdoch's Lupa Systems could value its podcast network and New York Media publishing brands at around $300 million, sources told Axios.

⏮️ Flashback: Vox Media was valued at around $1 billion after a $200 million funding round in 2015.

• That was prior to its $105 million acquisition of New York Magazine's parent company, New York Media, in 2019 and its acquisition of digital publisher Group Nine Media in an all-stock deal in 2022.
• Vox Media was valued at around $500 million in 2023 after Penske Media paid $100 million to take a 20% stake in the company.

💸 Zoom in: Penske Media is the largest shareholder of Vox Media. It would likely get paid out as part of any transaction with Lupa.

• Penske could own even more of what is left of Vox Media, which includes a slew of digital publishing brands, such as The Verge, Vox and The Dodo, if any other preferred shareholders are paid out.
• It's unclear whether common stockholders, like employees, would see a return on investment from the Lupa deal.
• Vox and Lupa did not comment.

The big picture: Digital media economics have shifted significantly over the past decade as platform traffic dried up, ad budgets tightened and publishers struggled to build sustainable businesses.

• BuzzFeed last week sold a 52% stake to Byron Allen for $120 million, roughly 86% below its peak valuation.
• Vice, Mic and Food52 all sold more than 90% below their highs.

📉 Some brands sold at a high point, only to sell again at a lower valuation.

• CNET's sale to Ziff Davis in 2024 was 94% less than its acquisition by CBS in 2008, though the ZD deal included fewer brands.
• Uzabase acquired Quartz for $86 million in 2018 and then sold it to the site's co-founder for much less in 2020. It's since changed hands to G/O Media and again to Redbrick.

Reality check: Were these companies ever worth their peak valuations?

• Many of these businesses seemed to be valued more as high-growth tech startups rather than ad-dependent publishers.
• Once the platform-driven growth slowed, buyers reassessed them based on profitability, cash flow and durability.

What to watch: Venture money that helped back digital publishing businesses has mostly dried up, pushing more new upstarts to explore capital from family offices and wealthy individuals.

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Publicis Groupe's deal for data software company LiveRamp is expected to reinvigorate ad tech M&A after a relatively slow first quarter.

Why it matters: The move is another strategic win for Publicis at a time when it's already outperforming rivals.

• The $2.2 billion all-cash deal marks one of the biggest ad tech acquisitions since Publicis bought Epsilon in 2019.

📊 Driving the news: Publicis agreed to pay $38.50 per share for LiveRamp, representing a nearly 30% premium to the stock's closing price Friday, the companies announced.

• As one of the advertising industry's most widely used data collaboration platforms, LiveRamp connects more than 25,000 publisher domains and more than 500 technology and data partners across 14 markets.

Between the lines: LiveRamp's independence is part of its value, operating as a neutral infrastructure across agencies, brands and publishers.

• Leadership from both companies stressed on a Monday conference call that LiveRamp will remain neutral. But analysts and buyers who spoke with Axios are skeptical that perception will hold if the company sits within Publicis.

💰 The big picture: Publicis has widened its lead over rival holding companies by winning new business and aggressively investing in the infrastructure powering modern advertising.

• Publicis Media, its media buying agency, led new business rankings in 2025 with roughly $10.5 billion in new billings, according to Comvergence data. IPG Mediabrands, now under Omnicom, generated $1.8 billion, followed by Dentsu at $1.6 billion.

🤔 Reality check: Competitors will need to "decide whether to partner, build, acquire or accept a weaker position across data, workflow and transaction layers," analysts at Madison and Wall wrote on Monday.

• Shares of WPP and Omnicom rose following news of the deal, which validates their strategies to invest in data and tech infrastructure in the AI era.

🏛️ What to watch: A deal of this size will require regulatory review. Publicis was one of several agencies that settled with the FTC last month over allegations of collusion. Omnicom and IPG had agreed not to bar ads based on politics while seeking approval for their merger.

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Bloomberg Media said today it would bring its flagship New Economy Forum event to India for the first time this October, as part of a broader push into the region.

🌏 Why it matters: India is currently the second-largest market globally for Bloomberg.com.

• Bloomberg Media has had journalists in the region for 30 years, but it's expanded its staff there by 30% in the past three years, a spokesperson said.
• Bloomberg LP and Bloomberg Media collectively have more than 250 people based in the country.

💼 Zoom in: The invitation-only forum is slated for Oct. 13–15 in New Delhi. It will convene over 500 people in power across business, technology and politics. India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi will speak at the forum.

• In conjunction with the event this fall, Bloomberg will debut a weekly New Economy video podcast from its new Mumbai studio.
• In the lead-up to the event, Bloomberg inked a video distribution deal with JioTV — one of the largest livestreaming services in the region — last year.

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The National Football League's top policy executive Jeff Miller told reporters Friday that the National Association of Broadcasters' push to urge Congress to reexamine sports leagues' antitrust exemptions is "odd" given the league's historically positive relationship with broadcasters.

Why it matters: It's the closest the league has come to calling out Fox Corp. for putting pressure on the NFL in Washington.

State of play: I asked how much the league believed the NAB's position was reflective of all of its broadcast partners or how much it thought the pressure was mostly coming from Fox.

• Miller said the NAB's position was "odd" and noted that the NAB inducted the NFL into the NAB Hall of Fame in 2025. "So, you know, one would have thought that that relationship was good," he quipped.
• "I don't know what revisiting the SBA does for broadcasters," he added. "I guess if I were a local broadcaster, I would ask the NAB how that benefits me," he said, while noting the league is committed to being on broadcast television.

📺 Context: The Department of Justice and FCC are both looking at ways the NFL's distribution agreements with broadcasters could be impacted by its antitrust exemptions, Axios has reported.

• Fox Corp. was the only major broadcaster with NFL rights to file comments directly with the FCC, urging it to review the Sports Broadcasting Act of 1961, which allows the NFL to pool and sell TV rights collectively.
• NAB, which represents many of the NFL's partners, also submitted comments.

🗣️ Zoom in: In recent weeks, President Trump has weighed in on the debate, saying, "I don't like it. They're making a lot of money. They could make a little bit less," referring to the NFL.

• The NFL, Axios has reported, is suspicious that the Murdochs are behind the pressure campaign. Fox investors are concerned about its vulnerability in the next round of NFL rights negotiations.

At the Moment Media has quickly positioned itself as the People Magazine of advertising, technology and media in its first year.

Why it matters: ATM's momentum serves as a sign of where corporate communications and B2B storytelling are heading.

• As the agentic web continues to favor organic and earned media over paid content, brands are looking to prioritize third-party coverage of their executives and products over advertising.
• ATM's content is meant to reach B2B decision-makers in their social feeds.

By the numbers: The upstart, founded by veteran communications and marketing executive Robert Wheeler, banked more than $1 million in revenue in its first year, working with major brands such as Disney, NBCU, WPP and DirecTV. The average brand deal, Wheeler told Axios, is in the six-figure range.

🤳 How it works: ATM offers brands the ability to pay for social-first video coverage of their executives, products, events and major moments.

• Its team of global editors uses AI to create buzzy, short-form videos fast, from any event around the world.
• Brands can use that footage to quickly share coverage of their product announcements at tentpole events, such as the Super Bowl, Cannes, Upfronts and CES.

Zoom out: ATM is niche, and intentionally so.

• The vast majority of its audience, per Wheeler, is media, marketing and brand leaders — those who move ad budgets.

😉 The big picture: ATM's cheeky voice is meant to champion executives in a way that's more lighthearted and personal than trade press. Amid volatility and disruption to the ad market, that friendly atmosphere is becoming more attractive to brands and celebrities.