Elite Daily, the online publisher that (still) describes itself as “The Voice of Generation Y,” has been acquired by Bustle.
The news was first reported by Business Insider.
The Daily Mail previously acquired Elite Daily as a way for the British news publisher to connect with a millennial audience. At the end of 2016, however, The Daily Mail wrote down a $31 million loss on the purchase, saying that “audience retention and revenue growth have been disappointing and losses have exceeded expectations.”
Jon Steinberg, who oversaw the acquisition at The Daily Mail, is now running video news startup Cheddar, while Elite Daily’s founders have also departed.
None of this makes Elite Daily sound like a publisher on the upswing, but in a press release, Bustle CEO Bryan Goldberg (pictured above) said, “We see a tremendous opportunity to build off of Elite Daily’s strong capabilities in video, social, and native advertising.”
Goldberg, who was also one of the founders of Bleacher Report, launched woman-focused Bustle in 2013, followed by Romper, a site for millennial moms, in 2015. He said that with Elite Daily’s readers (“most of whom are young women”), the company now known as Bustle Digital Group “further extends our demographic leadership.”
The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed, but Bustle Digital Group says Elite Daily will maintain its independent editorial operations in New York. The company also says it will now reach nearly 80 million unique monthly visitors across Bustle, Romper and Elite Daily.
