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

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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 came from The Information, which cited a source with knowledge of the situation.

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

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

It brought in some well-known writers, such as the baseball correspondent Ken Rosenthal and basketball commentator Shams Charania.

According to Axios, the publication will be dominated by the co-founders Adam Hansmann and Alex Mather.

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.