As German publisher Axel Springer aims to expand its digital media offerings in English-speaking nations, the company acquires a minority stake at Thrillist Media Corp., a men's lifestyle website operator. The purchase came a day after the company announced its plans to buy a majority stake in Business Insider for $343 million.
According to Axel Springer CEO and Chairman Mathias Doefner, Thrillist is a "very wonderful mix of information" especially when it comes to restaurants, travelling and lifestyle products. However, the decision to take a minority stake in the online media company that operates lifestyle sites for Millennial men was solely because of its leadership.
"The main reason why we invested in [Thrillist] is the founder, Ben Lerer," Doepfner told CNBC News. "He has convinced us, and we are very much focused on people when we make decisions. It's the same with Business Insider. Henry Blodget [referring to the CEO and editor-in-chief of the business news website] was a key factor for our investment."
Doepfner also added that Blodget had signed a package, which will increase his financial exposure to Business Insider and will give him incentives to remain with the company for 10 years. However, no such agreement was offered to Lerer since Axel Springer is only taking a minority stake in Thrillist.
Meanwhile, Lerer, a managing partner at venture capital firm Lerer Hippeau Ventures, founded the male-oriented Thrillist with a college friend in 2004 and is its CEO. According to Fortune, it was established out of an email newsletter and has grown into a network of localized sites covering food and entertainment for a young male audience.
As of late, Thrillist Media Group, which previously housed Thrillist.com, JackThreads.com and Supercompressor.com, has annual revenues of $100 million. The company also recently announced $54 million in new funding as well as its plan to split its business into two separate companies" one for content and the other one for commerce, USA Today noted.
Even though initial reports claim that Lerer was looking for a sale and speaking to big companies like Viacom, he stressed that he's not "looking around for a sale." Instead, the company was looking around for new capital partners.
Meanwhile, Axel Springer's investment in the media side won't just go to new editorial hires. It will also be utilized to boost Thrillist's proprietary data platform, Pinnacle, and its new internal branding arm, The CoLab, which creates branded content for clients.
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