HuffPo: $37M raised, 126M MAU, $30M+ rev (sold for $316M)
TechCrunch: $0 raised, 5M+ MAU, ? rev (sold for $25-30M)
Medium: $132M raised, 60M+ MAU, ? rev
Cracked: $0 raised, 10M+ MAU, $12M+ rev (sold for $39M[6])
Margins and growth are the diff between selling for 1.5x revenue and 10x revenue[7] - clearly a few models, where you either raise a little and do well with low headcount and organic audience, or raise $40M+ and set an expectation of getting near 100M MAU with $40M+ p.a revenue with high margins (~50%) and growth
The Wall Street Journal is reporting [1] that BuzzFeed is set to fall short of their $350m 2017 sales target by 15% to 20%. So a better number on that might be $280m to $300m.
Interesting side note, Michael Arrington made more on the sale of TechCrunch than Arianna Huffington did on the sale of HuffPo. The power of capital efficiency!
Comments
Comparisons:
Mashable: $46M raised[0], 15M MAU[1] and $35-40M p.a in revenue[2] (sold for $50M)
Business Insider: $55M raised, 76M MAU, $50M+ rev (sold at $442M[5])
Refinery29: $125M raised, 27M MAU, $100M+ rev
Vox: $307M raised[4], 170M MAU, $100M+ rev
Buzzfeed: $496M raised, 200M+ MAU, $280-300M rev (was $350M - updated thanks)
HuffPo: $37M raised, 126M MAU, $30M+ rev (sold for $316M)
TechCrunch: $0 raised, 5M+ MAU, ? rev (sold for $25-30M)
Medium: $132M raised, 60M+ MAU, ? rev
Cracked: $0 raised, 10M+ MAU, $12M+ rev (sold for $39M[6])
Margins and growth are the diff between selling for 1.5x revenue and 10x revenue[7] - clearly a few models, where you either raise a little and do well with low headcount and organic audience, or raise $40M+ and set an expectation of getting near 100M MAU with $40M+ p.a revenue with high margins (~50%) and growth
[0] https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/mashable
[1] https://admin.mashable.com/wp-content/MashableMediaKit.pdf
[2] https://www.businessinsider.com.au/mashable-could-be-for-sal...
[3] http://adage.com/article/media/private-equity-plowing-money-...
[4] https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/vox-media
[5] http://fortune.com/2015/09/29/business-insider-axel-springer...
[6] https://www.recode.net/2016/4/12/11586060/cracked-demand-med...
[7] https://www.poynter.org/news/how-much-digital-media-company-...
The Wall Street Journal is reporting [1] that BuzzFeed is set to fall short of their $350m 2017 sales target by 15% to 20%. So a better number on that might be $280m to $300m.
[1] https://www.wsj.com/articles/buzzfeed-set-to-miss-revenue-ta...
Interesting side note, Michael Arrington made more on the sale of TechCrunch than Arianna Huffington did on the sale of HuffPo. The power of capital efficiency!
UV != MAU