No End in Sight for Digital Media Merger Madness Following Vice, Vox and Group Nine Deals

Digital media companies, once marked by rapid growth as legacy media faltered, are consolidating in hopes of riding out the perfect storm of dwindling digital advertising dollars, tighter bank lending and lukewarm interest from venture capitalists. A recent spate of three mostly stock-based deals are indicative of the dark clouds that have been looming over the digital media landscape for some time. Questions about the viable future of digital media have swirled around the industry for years. Last month, Vox Media acquired New York Magazine parent company New York Media in a $105 million all-stock deal, according to The Wall Street Journal. About a week later, Vice Media acquired Refinery29 for $400 million, followed a few days later by Group Nine Media snatching up PopSugar in a stock deal that valued the female-focused celebrity and lifestyle publisher at more than $300 million. Also Read: BuzzFeed, HuffPost and Mic: Inside the Crisis in Digital News “These moves are emblematic of the challenges in digital media,” Matt Sheehan, a digital media veteran and faculty member at University of Florida, told TheWrap. “The value has never been in the content, but rather the platform, and platforms become more valuable the bigger they become. I think we’re going to see more of...

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