The New York Times reportedly will buy The Athletic for $550 million.
Jessica Toonkel of The Information first reported the news.
Launched in January of 2016, The Athletic is a subscription-based sports media site that has a staff of writers covering professional sports in 47 cities across the United States and Canada.
Sports writers from local markets joined The Athletic to cover the NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL, college sports, soccer, boxing, motorsports and more. The company also has podcasts for a number of teams and sports.
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The acquisition will give the NYT a new sector of subscribers, as The Athletic reached 1 million subscribers in September 2020. The Times had a reported 8.3 million digital and print subscribers as of last September.
The Athletic reportedly held conversations with the NYT and Axios about a potential sale before a deal with the newspaper giant was finally reached.
