{"id":381143,"date":"2021-12-15T02:45:13","date_gmt":"2021-12-14T23:45:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/group-nine-vox-keep-price-of-deal-quiet\/"},"modified":"2021-12-15T02:45:13","modified_gmt":"2021-12-14T23:45:13","slug":"group-nine-vox-keep-price-of-deal-quiet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/group-nine-vox-keep-price-of-deal-quiet\/","title":{"rendered":"#Group Nine, Vox keep price of deal quiet"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;<strong>#Group Nine, Vox keep price of deal quiet<\/strong>&#8221;<\/p>\n<div>\n<aside class=\"single__inline-module alignleft\">\n<\/aside>\n<p>Vox <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/social-mediaa\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"1\" title=\"Social Media\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Media<\/a> and Group Nine are keeping the value of their merger private \u2014 and that may be because the number isn\u2019t as eye-popping as digital media darlings once commanded, On The Money has learned. <\/p>\n<p>Sources say Group Nine\u2019s worth has slumped to $225 million, less than half the $585 million it touted in 2016 when it got a $100 million investment from Discovery. Likewise, Vox \u2014 which was valued at $1 billion in its last funding round in 2015 \u2014 was valued at <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/download-scripts-themes-apps\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"9\" title=\"Download Scripts &amp; Themes &amp; Apps\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">app<\/a>roximately $672 million, according to sources close to the deal. <\/p>\n<p>Add up the latest figures and you get roughly $896 million \u2014 short of the $1 billion \u201cunicorn\u201d status that each company had hoped to achieve on its own.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s very telling that in no place they mention a dollar value for the combined company,\u201d one insider said of the announcement of the tie-up.<\/p>\n<p>The bloom is largely off the rose when it comes to digital media companies, industry watchers said. \u201cIn this current market environment, the deal between Group Nine and Vox is like two drunks leaning together to stand up,\u201d a source said. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cStill, I\u2019d rather be in Group Nine\u2019s position than Buzzfeed right now,\u201d the source said of the onetime digital wunderkind that went public via a SPAC deal in early December; since then, its stock has tanked by more than 40 percent.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1024\" height=\"682\" src=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/12\/Jim-Bankoff_02-1.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1024\" alt=\"jim bankoff\" class=\"wp-image-20491544\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/12\/Jim-Bankoff_02-1.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1535 1536w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/12\/Jim-Bankoff_02-1.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all 1024w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/12\/Jim-Bankoff_02-1.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=512 512w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\"\/><figcaption>Insiders are breathing a sigh of relief their deal is private and the market won\u2019t call their bluff. <\/figcaption><figcaption><span class=\"credit\">Bloomberg via Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Given Buzzfeed\u2019s performance, Group Nine insiders likely are breathing a sigh of relief that their deal was private \u2014 and the public markets won\u2019t be their to beat down their shares.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAll these companies are in trouble and challenged,\u201d \u00a0LightShed Partners analyst Rich Greenfield told The Post. \u201cDigital media publishing is getting harder by the day.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>Separately, Group Nine launched a blank-check company, Nine Acquisition Corp., in December 2020 \u2014 intent on finding a media target to combine with Group Nine. However, a year later they still haven\u2019t found a target and the special purpose acquisition company has 12 months before it expires \u2014 unless they add more money to the deal. <\/p>\n<p>Insiders have also realized taking a digital media company public is fraught with peril since it means revealing the inner workings publicly. Executives plan to quietly let the SPAC expire, sources said. It\u2019s unlikely they add money to the deal, which would give the SPAC more time to find a target.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1024\" height=\"682\" src=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/12\/Jim-Bankoff_03-1.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1024\" alt=\"jim bankoff\" class=\"wp-image-20491562\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/12\/Jim-Bankoff_03-1.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1535 1536w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/12\/Jim-Bankoff_03-1.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all 1024w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/12\/Jim-Bankoff_03-1.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=512 512w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\"\/><figcaption>VOX chief executive officer Jim Bankoff, said the new company would be \u201cconsiderably larger than the sum of the parts\u201d and could generate profit of $100 million.<\/figcaption><figcaption><span class=\"credit\">Getty Images for SXSW<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>In various interviews Monday, Vox Chief Executive Jim Bankoff said the new company would be \u201cconsiderably larger than the sum of the parts\u201d and could generate profit of $100 million.<\/p>\n<p>People close to the company say the tie-up likely is a concession that neither company could find a path to profitability on its own \u2014 and only by combining will they be able to make money. The all-stock transaction is expected to close in early 2022.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe company projects to be profitable in the future only because they can reduce significant costs by combining ad sales teams and eliminating overlap between multiple legal, finance, and human resources departments,\u201d a person with knowledge adds. \u201cOne ad sales guy can now sell across all companies.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Moody\u2019s\u00a0Investor Service analyst\u00a0Neil Begley told The Post there\u2019s been a lot of pressure on digital media companies. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cLots of assets were bid up to crazy levels and now there are real concerns focused around software updates that let users opt out of cookies,\u201d he said of Apple\u2019s latest features let let users opt out of being tracked for advertising purposes. \u201cThat takes away a lot of the advantage those companies had with ad targeting.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Venture fund Lerer Hippeau \u2014  run by Huffington Post co-founder Kenny Lerer \u2014 owns a large stake in Group Nine. Group Nine is run by Lerer\u2019s son, Ben Lerer. Lerer will be stepping down as head of Group Nine and joining the board of the new company.<\/p>\n<p>Press reps for the deal declined to comment.\n                        <\/p><\/div>\n<blockquote><p><strong><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\">If you liked the article, do not forget to share it with your friends. Follow us on\u00a0<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><a style=\"color: #ff0000;\" href=\"https:\/\/news.google.com\/publications\/CAAqBwgKMLG0nwswvr63Aw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">Google News<\/a><\/span>\u00a0too, click on the star and choose us from your favorites.<\/span><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">For forums sites go to <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/forum.buradabiliyorum.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Forum.BuradaBiliyorum.Com<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>If you want to read more <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/news\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"2\" title=\"News\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">News<\/a> articles, you can visit our <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/news\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">News category.<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"color: black;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2021\/12\/14\/group-nine-vox-keep-price-of-deal-quiet\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;#Group Nine, Vox keep price of deal quiet&#8221; Vox Media and Group Nine are keeping the value of their merger private \u2014 and that may be because the number isn\u2019t as eye-popping as digital media darlings once commanded, On The Money has learned. Sources say Group Nine\u2019s worth has slumped to $225 million, less than&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":381144,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/12\/Jim-Bankoff_04.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=1024","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[70897],"tags":[121725,72323,76511,77382,106544,73395,5041],"class_list":["post-381143","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-12-14-21","tag-digital-media","tag-discovery","tag-group-nine-media","tag-on-the-money","tag-vox-media","tag-warnermedia"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/381143","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=381143"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/381143\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/381144"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=381143"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=381143"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=381143"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}