G/O Media Sells Gizmodo to European Tech Media Company Keleops
G/O Media sold its tech and design site Gizmodo to European media company Keleops in a deal that “represents a substantial premium from our original purchase price for the site,” CEO Jim Spanfeller said in an internal memo Tuesday.
In that same memo, Spanfeller assured that the agreement “Gizmodo’s entire staff intact” and working in G/O Media’s New York offices (“at least for the near terms”), a move that informed the board of directors’ decision to sell.
The news came just over a month after G/O Media sold another editorial asset, The Onion — this time to Chicago-based firm Global Tetrahedron.
Keleops founder and CEO Jean-Guillaume Kleis, meanwhile, celebrated the Gizmodo acquisition as “a strategic move” that represents a continued effort “to strengthen our presence and leadership in the tech media industry.”
“Gizmodo is an iconic technology news brand with strong recognition worldwide, and I am delighted to welcome such a high-quality and trusted brand into Keleops family,” Kleis, whose company is based in Switzerland, wrote in a press release obtained by TheWrap. “I am incredibly excited about Gizmodo’s future. I believe that the combination of Keleops’ unique digital know-how and Gizmodo’s rich content and deep editorial expertise will greatly benefit both our audiences and our partners. We are absolutely thrilled to be welcoming the entire Gizmodo editorial team on this journey.”
Elsewhere in his memo to G/O Media staff, Spanfeller took the opportunity to communicate successes at other house brands, including The Root and Jalopnik, as well as detailing “how the company is doing overall” and forecasting the second half of 2024.
Read Spanfeller’s memo in full below:
A short time ago we were approached by European-based Keleops Media expressing interest in purchasing Gizmodo to add to their growing tech media holdings. After serious consideration, G/O Media’s board of directors has decided to accept their offer for a variety of reasons, which include Keleops’ agreement to keep Gizmodo’s entire staff intact and a sale valuation that represents a substantial premium from our original purchase price for the site. This and other increases in valuation stand as strong testament to the work of not only our editorial teams but also the core other areas of operations. Lou Tosto and the sales and marketing teams are doing wonderful work in a very intense marketplace and Mike Dugan and the development group continue to build market leading improvement into our site’s features and their overall functionality.
Under the terms of the transaction, the Gizmodo staff will continue to work in our offices here in New York City at least for the near term. For the past two decades, Gizmodo has been a leader in covering technology and its related vertical subjects with a unique approach and voice that has established itself as a vital player in tech journalism. The site’s new owners are very excited to be getting a great brand with a talented group of journalists.
As we near the end of the first half of the year, I thought I would give a brief update on how the company is doing overall. Over the past few months, we have been some terrific sales wins on both the direct and programmatic advertising futons. Quartz has seen both triple-digit traffic gains and double-digit ad sales increases so far in 2024. We are also starting to see some encouraging signs from the advertising community that the second half of the year will be much better than last year’s comparable period. On the edit front, The Root will have a busy summer with the release of their inaugural “Young, Black and Genius” list and the launch of their Style channel. Over at Jalopnik, Rory Carroll and his team are gearing up for the release of a special editorial package to celebrate the site’s 20th anniversary, while at Kotaku, the edit team will be providing wall-to-wall coverage of its loyal readers of Summer Game Fest and the hotly anticipated releases of “Star Wars Outlaws” and “Elden Ring: Shadow.”
I would like to personally thank everyone for their dedication and focus over the past few months. With the advertising marketplace showing signs of improvement, I am confident that these moves will better position G/O Media for success as the year progresses.
Jim
Semafor’s Max Tani first broke the news.
Correction: An earlier version of this story described Keleops as a French tech media company. They are in fact based in Switzerland.
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