Vox Media announces acquisition of New York Magazine and popular digital publications

Craig Barritt/Getty Images for New York Magazine

A general view of atmosphere at Intelligencer Live: Our Warmer Future presented by New York Magazine and Brookfield Place on September 05, 2019 in New York City.

• Vox Media has agreed to acquire New York Media, the company behind New York Magazine and its digital publications, on Tuesday.
• The New York Times announced that the deal is an all-stock transaction; the total value of the deal is unknown.
• New York Media owns the well-known biweekly magazine, along with digital sites The Cut, Grub Street, Intelligencer, The Strategist, and Vulture.
• New York Media is now owned by the Wasserstein Family Trust and Pamela Wasserstein serves as chief executive. She will continue running New York Magazine as president of Vox Media and will also have a seat on the board of Vox Media.
• It's unclear if staff were notified on the acquisition before The Times announced the deal.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Vox Media agreed to acquire New York Media, the company behind New York Magazine and its digital assets, on Tuesday.

According to the New York Times, the deal is an all-stock transaction, and the total value of the transaction is unknown.

New York Magazine was started in 1963 as a Sunday supplement to the New York Herald Tribune newspaper. The magazine was sold to investment banker Bruce Wasserstein in 2004 who oversaw the company's digital expansion before his death in 2009.

Besides the well-known biweekly print magazine, the publishing company also owns several websites: The Cut, Grub Street, Intelligencer, The Strategist, and Vulture.

New York Media is now owned by the Wasserstein Family Trust, and Bruce's daughter, Pamela Wasserstein, serves as chief executive. According to The Times, she "started exploring a sale more than a year ago and had stopped looking for a buyer when she started discussions with Vox Media in June."

Under the new arrangement, she will continue running New York Magazine as president of Vox Media and will also have a seat on the board.

Read more: With digital-ad revenue dwindling, media companies are taking another stab at selling their tech to publishers

Vox Media CEO and chairman Jim Bankoff told The Times that the new merger would not result in editorial layoffs.

Vox Media announced the acquisition on its site on Tuesday and said the deal would create "the leading independent modern media company." The note, penned by Bankoff and Wasserstein, called the two businesses "uniquely complementary."

It's unclear if staff were notified on the acquisition before The Times announced the deal.