Vice Media Group agreed on Tuesday to acquire online media company Refinery29, for $400m according to the New York Times, enabling corporates WarnerMedia, WPP, Discovery Communications and Scripps Networks Interactive to exit.
The amount mostly comprises cash, mixed together with shares in Vice, according to two people familiar with the deal. The combined company is valued at $4bn, people familiar with the matter told the Financial Times.
Founded in 2005, Refinery29 initially operated as a fashion-focused platform that concentrated on New York. It gradually expanded into a digital media platform targeted at a millennial audience that operates out of offices in the US, UK, Canada and Germany.
The company produces both text and video content, and Vice said in a press release the deal will help it reach some 350 million ‘uniques’ a month. It also puts on events and operates a specialised content creation studio and a digital advertising business.
The deal follows $133m in funding for Refinery29, which received $8m in debt financing from entertainment and media group WarnerMedia, media company Discovery Communications, marketing firm WPP and growth equity firm Stripes Group in May 2019.
The company was valued at $500m as of a $45m series E round led by WarnerMedia subsidiary Turner and backed by fellow broadcaster Scripps in 2016. It came the year after a $50m series D featuring Scripps Networks and WPP Ventures, WPP’s corporate venturing unit, at a reported $240m valuation.
Stripes Group, Floodgate, Lead Edge Capital, First Round and Lerer Hippeau are also investors in Refinery29, as was media group Hearst, which took part in a $5.6m series B round in 2013 before apparently divesting its stake.
