In New York City, two major media companies have joined forces. On Tuesday, Vox Media acquired New York Magazine in an all-stock deal of undisclosed value. The biweekly magazine, in print since 1968, and its five successful digital verticals will join Vox, founded in 2005, and its six prominent media platforms under unified leadership.
The plan, editorially, is to stay the course, if not innovate. According to a news-breaking Times article and Vox Media press release, the merger is a match made in heaven out of “ambition,” per New York Media chief executive Pamela Wasserstein, rather than necessity. The reality of the situation, however—in part veiled by the private holding of both unionized organizations—is up for debate, most notably on the Twitterverse.
So, with added context, let’s bring to light outside perspectives both pejorative and assenting.
Misalignment.
According to pre-deal research, there’s a “surprisingly small audience overlap,” as stated by Vox Media chief executive and chairman Jim Bankoff, between Vox and New York Media. A pretentious branding gap—unbeknownst to involved media brass, apparently—might have something to do with that.
Seeing a lot of NYC journo comments that seem to imply they've never read some of the really great journalism Vox Media sites have published and ignoring the clickbait NYMag sites also publish.
The deal signals the forfeiture of one of big media’s only “small, family-owned” companies, as described by former New York Magazine editor-in-chief Adam Moss.
Ideally, journalism, an institution on which we rely to ensure equitable and distributed power, would, itself, be well-distributed. Unfortunately, economics—not ethics—dictate the structure of our vital institutions. All good considered—at least Vox isn’t “corporate media” (yet)—this merger is still a top-heavy step toward a more-concentrated American media industry.
Every journalist will work for Vox, Bustle, the NyTimes, the WSJ, or the Washington Post in ten years https://t.co/QhuIhpmVEf
The all-stock factor might inform us as to the financial vulnerability potentially fueling the merger. New York Media, which reportedly saw a modest profit on $185 million in revenue last year, according to the Times, has been looking for an acquiring suitor for at least a year. And the organization’s financial difficulties resulted in a 32-staffer (5% of its workforce) layoff earlier this year.
An all-stock transaction? Were there no other bidders, or are NYmag’s owners just insane? pic.twitter.com/7vZiVKZYZY
All things subjectively considered, the deal does look to be objectively good—for now, at least, there will be no layoffs or editorial changes. If business does, in fact, continue as usual, as promised by now-joint leadership, this unusually idealistic and un-disruptive merger is laud-worthy.
but i will admit it is a great move by vox to acquire this company instead of "exploring a merger" with any of the other digital media companies (i.e. buzzfeed, vice, group nine, refinery29, etc.)
Among a number of criticisms regarding New York’s handling of the merger is the fact that many employees apparently found out about the deal either on Twitter or via the New York Times article. New York Magazine editor-in-chief David Haskell sent a company-wide email on Tuesday night. (The Times article was published Tuesday morning.)
Bankoff told the Times the acquisition is something “different” from what we’ve seen with most other major modern media mergers—executed not because New York Magazine was “desperate” or for “financial engineering.” Not everyone, however, is sold. Splinter News called Bankoff’s statement “a beautiful word salad that says absolutely nothing and shows he’s just as great a wordsmith as some of his staffers.”
congrats to the NYMag union who apparently just found out on twitter their company got bought by the bad explainer company
— Listen to @onbeliefpod & @ongriefpodcast Li'l 🌳 (@karengeier) September 25, 2019
Yep, @NYMag was just bought by @voxdotcom. Nope, we didn't know ahead of time. Nope, the @nyguild / @NYMagUnion were not told ahead of time. Yep, we are wearing our T-shirts & pins tomorrow. Yep, we will have lots to say at the meeting. #solidarity
Vox bought New York Magazine, so you can likely kiss New York’s super friendly freelancer contracts (where they let you keep all the option rights) goodbye.
This is bad news for journalism. NY Mag is excellent and one of the last quality independent media brands. Vox empire is riddled with clickbait and pumped up full of venture capital money https://t.co/m6G0GuBN0n
How exactly the Vox annexation of the at-least-slightly disgruntled New York Magazine newsroom, and whether or not involved leadership will make good on its promise to stay the course, is to be seen.
“The mood is somewhere between annoyed and confused,” a New York Media writer told CNN Business. “Management is being very cagey about the wording, as they have with talks about everything else, union negotiations, the mag’s upcoming office relocation and plenty else.”
I suppose they could just do the venture capital thing and cut NYMag to the bone, but that would seem like major brand equity risk
Check back in a year and count how many sr editors remain in those overlapping verticals. A 30% reduction, I'd guess. This is the downside of unionizing – creates incentive for management to find efficiencies and leverage through other means.
Totally disagree, this was definitely expansionary for Vox. NYMag was struggling to make money on its own, and Vox has the ad tech to profit off NYMag’s properties in a way they couldn’t.
i’ll be curious to see how long andrew sullivan lasts at a nymag that is accountable to a bunch of young, outspoken vox staffers who aren’t in thrall to any Magazine Guy myths
Writer, freelance journo based in Buffalo, NY. Keeping up on world-shaping business and tech trends. Tennis player. Music (boring indie rock, mostly) enjoyer.