Categories: OLD Media Moves

Why Uzabase is buying Quartz

Shusuke Murai of The Japan Times writes about NewsPicks parent Uzabase and its pending acquisition of financial news site Quartz for between $75 million and $110 million.

Murai writes, “Tokyo-based Uzabase surprised the journalism world earlier this month when it announced the acquisition of U.S.-based business news website Quartz LLC from Atlantic Media for $75 million to $110 million, depending on Quartz’s performance for the full year.

“‘Quartz has 20 million readers that perfectly fit NewsPicks’ target. This was something we desperately needed in order to expand our business overseas,’ the former UBS investment banker said.

“With the acquisition, NewsPicks aims to become ‘the world’s most influential business media’ outlet by picking up 1 million paid members and 10 million active monthly users in the next five years.

“Launched in 2013, NewsPicks has become popular in Japan as a social media-based outlet. It boasts more than 3 million registered users, including businesspeople, academics, journalists and other professionals.”

Read more here.

Chris Roush

Chris Roush was the dean of the School of Communications at Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Connecticut. He was previously Walter E. Hussman Sr. Distinguished Professor in business journalism at UNC-Chapel Hill. He is a former business journalist for Bloomberg News, Businessweek, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Tampa Tribune and the Sarasota Herald-Tribune. He is the author of the leading business reporting textbook "Show me the Money: Writing Business and Economics Stories for Mass Communication" and "Thinking Things Over," a biography of former Wall Street Journal editor Vermont Royster.