Vox Media Inc., the internet media giant is reportedly buying Curbed LLC, the parent company of Curbed.com- the famous real estate website, Eater.com- the cuisine and dining website and Racked.com- the fashion and shopping focussed website. The cost of the transaction has not yet been revealed, according to several news reports.
A source familiar with the deal told The New York Times that the deal might close somewhere in between $20 million and $30 million. However, for now, Curbed will operate independently from its own offices.
Jim Bankoff, the CEO of Vox Media tweeted confirming the news.
So excited to welcome @eater @curbed and @racked to @voxmediainc family of modern media brands and to extend into 3 more major categories
— Jim Bankoff (@Bankoff) November 11, 2013
Bankoff said that he hopes to make use of Curbed's platforms to venture into the respective fields that the network covers. He also plans on taking advantage of its advertisement service and technology to "blow out these major consumer categories," he said in a phone-interview with Fortune.
"Both Vox and Curbed value storytelling and as a result have attracted the otherwise hard to reach young, affluent, social consumers. We think this combined expanded platform will clearly attract premium advertisers," Bankoff said to the New York Times.
Vox Media is the parent company of famous websites like Verge.com, SBnation.com, the sports website, and Polygon.com, the famous gaming news website. The company has grown 88 percent from 2012 and receives about 56 million visitors a month, globally, reports The Wall Street Journal.
While experts are speculating the deal wondering how Curbed's 5.1 million user traffic would help Vox in its ventures, Lockhart Steele, the founder of Curbed LLC has it all reasoned out.
"We've been under our own steam for a long time and we only ever raised $1.5 million back in 2007, and the company's been profitable since 2010, so if we were ever going to sell the company, we would only do it in a situation where we felt like the acquiring company brought stuff to the table that would help us really change the game, and I think Vox is incredibly unique in that regard," Steele told Mashable.
News of the acquisition comes amid reports of Vox raising about $40 million in a funding venture with Accel Partners. The company has already raised $35 million. Apparently, the proceeds from the funds will be invested in additional video content for Verge and Polygon, reports Ad Age.
"Part of the model here at Vox is building a media company that's equal parts magazine and news publisher and equal parts video producer and publisher...We are seeking to create an experience that feels as much like TV programming as magazine publishing," Bankoff explained to the publication.
The Curbed Network acquisition could also be a part of the strife to build a larger, more integrated and diversified content platform.
