New York Times buys sports news site The Athletic for $550 million

The New York Times NYT has agreed to purchase sports news site The Athletic for $550 million.

The news was originally cited by The Information, a source with knowledge of the situation.

According to Axios, the purchase price is an increase from The Athletic's valuation of $500 million in its latest funding round in January.

The Athletic, which began in 2016, said it doesn't anticipate turning a profit until 2023. The Times may want to raise its subscription price. On an annual basis, the Athletic offers subscriptions for $7.99 a month or $2.99 a month.

The company has had previous mergers with The Times and Axios in the past. The Athletic raised $140 million in five funding rounds.

Some well-known writers have been brought in, such as baseball correspondent Ken Rosenthal and basketball commentator Shams Charania.

According to Axios, the authors of the Athletic co-founders Adam Hansmann and Alex Mather will stay with the publication.

Mather, famously told the New York Times in 2017 that, "We will wait every local paper out and let them continue to bleed until we are the last ones standing." We will suck them dry of their best talent at every moment. Sports Illustrated s The Spun offered a sampling of Twitter's reaction to the reported acquisition.