OLD Media Moves

What was Quartz sold for?

November 12, 2020

Posted by Erica Thompson

Keith Kelly of the New York Post writes about the selling price for financial news site Quartz, noting that it could have been for just $1.

Kelly writes, “Deal terms offered in the weeks leading up to Sunday sale to Seward, sources said, called for potential new owners to pay just $1 for the struggling financial news website. Uzabase was also offering a $6 million personal loan to the company.

“In addition to Seward, the new ownership includes Quartz’s editor-in-chief Katherine Bell, who joined in December from Barron’s and who declined to comment on how much Quartz cost.

“‘We’re not commenting on the terms of the deal,’ Bell said in an interview with Media Ink Tuesday. But, she said, the company is definitively on the prowl for money in the form of new investors.

“‘We will be seeking further financing,’ Bell said. ‘We will be fundraising.’

“Uzabase bought Quartz from Atlantic Media for $86 million with a plan to wean it off ad revenue by adding a paywall and growing its subscribers. But the transition has caused financial pain with Uzabase in its last earnings report saying Quartz lost $11.2 million in the first half of 2020, ending in June on revenue of only $5 million.”

Read more here.

Subscribe to TBN

Receive updates about new stories in the industry daily or weekly.

Subscribe to TBN

Receive updates about new stories in the industry.