G/O Media buys Quartz

By Charlotte Tobitt

The owner of satire news site The Onion, feminist site Jezebel and pop culture site AV Club has bought business news brand Quartz.

G/O Media chief executive Jim Spanfeller said Quartz was an attractive brand because its high-quality global business journalism has a good prospect of attracting both subscribers and valuable advertisers, according to the New York Times. Spanefeller was also reported as saying no Quartz employees would be laid off because of the deal.

Quartz co-founder and chief executive Zach Seward will stay with the company as general manager and editor-in-chief of Quartz. Quartz’s current editor Katherine Bell is stepping down but will remain in an advisory role.

Seward and Bell bought Quartz from its former Japanese owner Uzabase in a management buyout in November 2020. It was not expected to break even this year, according to the NYT.

Quartz ditched its paywall earlier this month less than three years after it put up a metered paywall on its site. It will keep some paid products, such as its Quartz Africa offering.

Source: New York Times

Deal size: Undisclosed

Country: US

Status: Official