The New York Times wants more subscribers. So there’s your two-sentence explanation of why the Times is paying $550 million in cash for the Athletic, the five-year-old sports news service. Attaching itself to the Times means the startup enjoys the benefits of a much bigger marketing engine. The Times deal solves a problem, but it wasn’t the solution the Athletic had been looking for. If the Times felt more comfortable about its organic growth, it might not be paying roughly $500 a subscriber for the Athletic.

Source: New York Times January 06, 2022 23:48 UTC