Athletic, Axios talking merger?

[cjericho]

Is substack bigger than wenalway?

 

[playthrough]

This makes no sense. How have Marc or Molly been cancelled? Marc, for one, is widely respected in the industry.

More likely, it's a quality of life decision. No editors, for one (that would drive me crazy; I love editors and sometimes editing). Write what you want, when you want, however long you want. Travel, or don't.

I do wonder if leagues and teams will credential writers from substack. The BBWAA and other sports media orgs give out lifetime honorary credentials, but they're rare. And one of the things we take for granted when working for a media org is the office managers who spend way too much time fighting on the behalf of reporters for credentials.

I have one Substack subscription and I have considered offering my editing services to the writer in exchange for a sub, or just some swag from his corner of the sports world. Everyone needs a copy editor.

 

[TheSportsPredictor]

I have subscribed to maybe a half-dozen Substack or other newsletters. They generally clutter up my Gmail account. They write too often for me to keep up.

 

[Pilot]

Agree. I've never heard anyone say anything even remotely akin to "I was reading this on Substack from Ollie Opinionator and it said this and that."

Who's reading all these Substack newsletters? How many of them do they read a day before listening to all the podcasts they're supposed to listen to and then get their work done before checking social media and enjoying a final podcast and one last pre-bedtime Substack newsletter? It has to be exhausting.

Ah I see your mistake. Gotta listen on at least 1.75x and probably 2x. Pro tip: bump it up to 3x, then back down and 2x sounds intelligible all of the sudden .

 

[SixToe]

Substack is increasingly where the, uh, "progressive resistance" has gone. Writers and readers.

So you're saying after five or six artisinal Old Fashioneds and an Athletic-worthy deep dive into the Natty Lights, Substack and Parler would fight at Thanksgiving dinner?

 

[Songbird]

Ah I see your mistake. Gotta listen on at least 1.75x and probably 2x. Pro tip: bump it up to 3x, then back down and 2x sounds intelligible all of the sudden .

You lose a lot of context, inflection, nervous tics and natural pauses, and the other little things that come with normal conversation. Listening at any speed other than normal doesn't sound fun, entertaining, or informational. There's something about listening to people talk about things they've formulated and workshopped, or trying to formulate, in real time.

 

[Twirling Time]

Is substack bigger than wenalway?

The difference is in the pivoting.

 

[matt_garth]

Paywall:

The Athletic Hires LionTree to Find Buyer at Price of More Than $750 Million

 

[Sports Barf]

All that shirt talking about "we want to bankrupt newspapers" and looks like they're gonna end up being the ones left holding the bag. Boy you hate to see it

 

[The Big Ragu]

All that shirt talking about "we want to bankrupt newspapers" and looks like they're gonna end up being the ones left holding the bag. Boy you hate to see it

They are actively trying to sell themselves for $750 million ($250 million more than the company was being valued during its last capital raise just 20 months ago) on a business they started from scratch 6 years ago. I have no idea if LionTree will be able to make that happen (or if it will be able to raise more capital for them if it can't), but. ... What is the bag you are talking about, and who is holding it?

 

[Alma]

They are actively trying to sell themselves for $750 million ($250 million more than the company was being valued during its last capital raise just 20 months ago) on a business they started from scratch 6 years ago. I have no idea if LionTree will be able to make that happen (or if it will be able to raise more capital for them if it can't), but. ... What is the bag you are talking about, and who is holding it?

The business was not started from scratch so that it could be sold in six years. It was supposed to flourish so quickly and so deeply that it sustained itself.

when it is sold - if it is sold - it is likely that hundreds of people will be laid off and the site will become a strip mall of ads.

 

[The Big Ragu]

The business was not started from scratch so that it could be sold in six years. It was supposed to flourish so quickly and so deeply that it sustained itself.

when it is sold - if it is sold - it is likely that hundreds of people will be laid off and the site will become a strip mall of ads.

The business may or may not ultimately be viable, let alone justify the kind of valuation some people have already invested at.

But anyone who is willing to pay 3/4 of a billion dollars for it (or half a billion, if it even gets its last funding round valuation), on the kind of revenue it is reportedly generating, is NOT going to buy it and then do massive layoffs and radically change the strategy the way you suggested (it is a subscription model, not ads). You don't spend that kind of money and then shirt all over the purchase. This isn't a heavily-indebted, dying newspaper, selling itself for pennies to a vulture investor trying to wring whatever it can out of it.

Anyone who gets into this will be doing it because they see a growth opportunity (whether they are ultimately right or not), and they will be investing at a premium valuation. They will see a supposed 50 percent increase in revenue year over year and be thinking this has legs and is just getting started.

They may not find that buyer -- they may have waited too long with the valuation they are now at -- but there is still A LOT of newly-created money sloshing around and throwing itself at much dumber things than this. So it's certainly possible. It's one thing to float merger stories without any details, like the NY Times rumor that was out there. It's another to hire an investment bank, which is a real expenditure.