Bustle (magazine)

Last updated
Bustle
Bustle logo 2020.svg
Editor-in-chiefCharlotte Owen
Categories Women's
FoundedAugust 2013;10 years ago (August 2013)
CompanyBustle Digital Group
Country United States
Based in
LanguageEnglish
Website bustle.com

Bustle is an online American women's magazine founded in August 2013 by Bryan Goldberg. [1] It positions news and politics alongside articles about beauty, celebrities, and fashion trends. [2] By September 2016, the website had 50 million monthly readers. [3]

Contents

History

Bustle logo before 2020 redesign Bustle logo.svg
Bustle logo before 2020 redesign

Bustle was founded by Bryan Goldberg in 2013. Previously, Goldberg co-founded the website Bleacher Report with a single million-dollar investment. [4] He claimed that "women in their 20s have nothing to read on the Internet." [5] Bustle was launched with $6.5 million in backing from Seed and Series A funding rounds. [4] [6]

It surpassed 10 million monthly unique visitors in July 2014, placing it ahead of rival women-oriented sites such as Refinery29 , Rookie and xoJane ; it had the second greatest number of unique visitors after Gawker's Jezebel . [7] [8]

By 2015, Bustle had 46 full-time editorial staff and launched the parenting sister site Romper. [4] [9] In September 2016, Bustle launched a redesign using the company's $11.5 million series D funding round. At that time, the site had over 70 full-time editors and 250 contract contributors who posted more than 200 articles daily.

In April 2019, Kate Ward resigned as editor-in-chief. [10] Emma Rosenblum replaced Ward in June 2019. [10]

Bustle Digital Group

Formation

On April 17, 2017, DMG Media (publishers of the British tabloid The Daily Mail) announced that it had sold Elite Daily to the newly-rebranded Bustle Digital Group. [11]

Sales and acquisitions

Goldberg said that the acquisition was done in part to increase Bustle's original video content, which generated an average of 10 million monthly views, compared to Elite Daily's average of 60 million monthly views. [11] [12]

Bustle Digital Group purchased the inactive website Gawker in July 2018. [13] Bustle Digital Group bought the events website Flavorpill, owner of Flavorwire , in August 2018. [14] On Nov 29, 2018, Mic CEO Chris Altchek announced Mic was laying off most of Mic's staff while working on a deal to sell Mic. [15] Later on Nov 29, a Bustle rep confirmed that Bustle Digital Group had acquired Mic. [16] [17]

In March 2019, Bustle Digital Group purchased The Outline, followed by The Zoe Report in May 2019. They also purchased Nylon in June 2019, with the intention to publish print magazines under the Nylon brand name. [18] Rather than monthly publications, the magazines will be published around large cultural events, like the Coachella music festival. [19] [20] [21] In July, Bustle Digital acquired Inverse, a science and culture site. [22]

In 2021, BDG acquired Some Spider, parent of Scary Mommy and Fatherly. [23]

Related Research Articles

<i>W</i> (magazine) American fashion magazine

W is an American fashion magazine that features stories about style through the lens of culture, fashion, art, celebrity, and film.

<i>Nylon</i> (magazine) American fashion magazine

Nylon is an American multimedia brand, publishing company, and lifestyle magazine that focuses on pop culture and fashion. Its coverage includes art, beauty, music, design, celebrities, technology and travel. Originally a print publication, it switched to an all digital format in 2017. Its name references New York and London, and it is currently owned by Bustle Digital Group. The magazine will return to print in 2024.

Gawker was an American blog founded by Nick Denton and Elizabeth Spiers that was based in New York City and focused on celebrities and the media industry. According to SimilarWeb, the site had over 23 million visits per month as of 2015. Founded in 2002, Gawker was the flagship blog for Denton's Gawker Media. Gawker Media also managed other blogs such as Jezebel, io9, Deadspin and Kotaku.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gawker Media</span> Former British-American online media company and blog network

Gawker Media LLC was an American online media company and blog network. It was founded by Nick Denton in October 2003 as Blogwire, and was based in New York City. Incorporated in the Cayman Islands, as of 2012, Gawker Media was the parent company for seven different weblogs and many subsites under them: Gawker.com, Deadspin, Lifehacker, Gizmodo, Kotaku, Jalopnik, and Jezebel. All Gawker articles are licensed on a Creative Commons attribution-noncommercial license. In 2004, the company renamed from Blogwire, Inc. to Gawker Media, Inc., and to Gawker Media LLC shortly after.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Complex Networks</span> American media and entertainment company

Complex Networks is an American media and entertainment company for youth culture, based in New York City. It was founded as a bi-monthly magazine, Complex, by fashion designer Marc (Ecko) Milecofsky. Complex Networks reports on popular and emerging trends in style, sneakers, food, music, sports and pop culture. Complex Networks reached over 90 million unique users per month in 2013 across its owned and operated and partner sites, socials and YouTube channels. The print magazine ceased publication with the December 2016/January 2017 issue. Complex currently has 6.02 million subscribers and 1.8 billion total views on YouTube. As of 2019, the company's yearly revenue was estimated to be US$200 million, 15% of which came from commerce.

Mashable is a news website, digital media platform and entertainment company founded by Pete Cashmore in 2004.

Jezebel is a US-based website featuring news and cultural commentary geared towards women. It was launched in 2007 by Gawker Media under the editorship of Anna Holmes as a feminist counterpoint to traditional women's magazines.

Vox Media, Inc. is an American mass media company founded in Washington, D.C. with operational headquarters in Lower Manhattan, New York City. The company was established in November 2011 by CEO Jim Bankoff and Trei Brundrett to encompass SB Nation and The Verge. Bankoff had been the CEO for SB Nation since 2009.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Defy Media</span> Defunct American digital media company

Defy Media was an American digital media company that produced original online content for the 12–34 age group. Originally founded in 1996 as Alloy Online, the final company was formed in 2013 by its merger with Break Media.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mic (media company)</span> American internet and media company

Mic is an American internet and media company based in New York City that caters to millennials.

Elite Daily is an American online news platform founded by David Arabov, Jonathon Francis, and Gerard Adams. The site describes its target audience as millennials. In addition to general news and trending topics, the site offers feature stories and listicles covering politics, social justice, sex and dating, women's issues, and sports. Its slogan is "The Voice of Generation Y".

go90 American video streaming service

go90 was an American Internet television service and mobile app owned and operated by Verizon Communications. The service was positioned as a mobile-oriented "social entertainment platform" targeted primarily towards millennials, featuring a mixture of new and acquired content from various providers. The service was available exclusively within the United States.

Inverse is an online magazine from Bustle Digital Group, covering topics such as technology, science, and culture for a millennial audience.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Otter Media</span> American media company

Otter Media Holdings, LLC was an American digital media company owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The company was founded in 2014 by AT&T and The Chernin Group as a holding company of the anime streaming service, Crunchyroll who the latter invested in 2013.

Gizmodo Media Group was an online media company and blog network formerly operated by Univision Communications in its Fusion Media Group division. The company was created from assets acquired from Gawker Media during its bankruptcy in 2016. In April 2019, Gizmodo and The Onion were sold to private equity firm Great Hill Partners, which combined them into a new company named G/O Media.

Cheddar Inc. is an American live streaming financial news network founded by Jon Steinberg in the United States. Cheddar broadcasts live daily from the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), Nasdaq, the Flatiron Building in New York City, and the White House lawn and briefing room in Washington, D.C. covering new products, technologies, and services.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Outline (website)</span> News and culture website

The Outline was an online publication focused on "power, culture, and the future." It was founded independently by Joshua Topolsky in 2016 and later became a subsidiary of Bustle.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bryan Goldberg</span>

Bryan Goldberg is an American entrepreneur and the owner of Bustle Digital Group, which operates a number of media properties, including Bustle, Nylon, W Magazine and Gawker. Previously, Goldberg founded Bleacher Report, a sports news website that sold to Turner Broadcasting System in 2012 for $200 million.

Dave Finocchio is an American businessman who co-founded the sports news website Bleacher Report, which is the second-largest digital sports publisher with over 45 million monthly readers. In 2012, Finocchio led the company through an acquisition by Turner Broadcasting System for approximately $175 million. He stepped away from daily operations of Bleacher Report in 2014 but returned to the company as its CEO in 2016.

G/O Media Inc. is an American media holding company that owns and operates several digital media outlets, including Gizmodo, Kotaku, Jalopnik, The Root, The Inventory, and Quartz.

References

  1. ↑ Malone, Noreen (September 16, 2013). "What Bustle's Funding Really Shows Us". The New Republic . Archived from the original on September 19, 2015. Retrieved October 21, 2015.
  2. ↑ Amanda Hess (August 21, 2014). "The Bro Whisperer of Bustle". Slate. Archived from the original on August 11, 2015. Retrieved August 16, 2015.
  3. ↑ "The Women Behind The New Bustle On Reinventing "Women's Media"". September 29, 2016. Archived from the original on March 25, 2018. Retrieved March 24, 2018.
  4. 1 2 3 Bloomgarden-Smoke, Kara (July 22, 2015). "How Bustle Proved the Haters Wrong". Observer. Archived from the original on October 13, 2017. Retrieved October 12, 2017.
  5. ↑ Rebecca Greenfield (September 16, 2013). "This Picture Says Just About Everything About Bustle". The Atlantic . Archived from the original on March 25, 2018. Retrieved March 24, 2018.
  6. ↑ Goldberg, Bryan (August 13, 2013). "I've raised $6.5 million to build and grow my new company, Bustle". Pando. Archived from the original on September 10, 2015. Retrieved October 12, 2015.
  7. ↑ Griffith, Erin (July 14, 2014). "With an audience of 11 million young women, Bustle raises $5 million more". Fortune . Archived from the original on October 31, 2015. Retrieved October 21, 2015.
  8. ↑ Hess, Amanda (August 21, 2014). "The Bro Whisperer of Bustle". Slate . Archived from the original on October 12, 2015. Retrieved October 21, 2015.
  9. ↑ Shontell, Alyson. "2-year-old Bustle hits 45 million monthly uniques, flirts with profitability, and launches a new website for millennial moms, Romper". Business Insider. Archived from the original on July 6, 2019. Retrieved July 6, 2019.
  10. 1 2 Kelly, Keith J. (June 5, 2019). "Bustle raids Elle for new editor-in-chief". New York Post. Archived from the original on June 18, 2019. Retrieved November 14, 2019.
  11. 1 2 Shontell, Alyson. "Bustle acquires Elite Daily from Daily Mail and rebrands as Bustle Digital Group". Business Insider. Archived from the original on November 11, 2019. Retrieved November 14, 2019.
  12. ↑ "Elite Daily lost a ton of money, but Bustle just bought it from the Daily Mail anyway". Nieman Lab. Archived from the original on April 21, 2017. Retrieved April 22, 2017.
  13. ↑ Kludt, Tom; Darcy, Oliver (July 12, 2018). "Gawker.com sold to Bleacher Report co-founder Bryan Goldberg in bankruptcy auction". CNN. Archived from the original on July 12, 2018. Retrieved July 12, 2018.
  14. ↑ "As Publishers Build Experiential Events, Bustle Digital Group's Newest Acquisition Will Help It Compete". 15 August 2018. Archived from the original on July 6, 2019. Retrieved July 6, 2019.
  15. ↑ Kafka, Peter (Nov 29, 2018). "Mic has laid off the majority of its staff". Recode (later integrated into Recode (later integrated into Vox . Archived from the original on November 30, 2018. Retrieved December 19, 2021.
  16. ↑ Spangler, Todd (November 29, 2018). "Bustle Digital Group Acquires Mic Following Mic's Massive Layoff". Digital > News. Variety website. Penske Media Corporation. Archived from the original on November 30, 2018. Retrieved December 19, 2021.
  17. ↑ "Pivoting to nowhere: How Mic ran out of radical makeovers". Digiday. November 30, 2018. Archived from the original on December 1, 2018. Retrieved November 20, 2018.
  18. ↑ "Bustle Digital Group Buys Nylon Magazine, Plans to Relaunch Print". Folio. June 27, 2019. Archived from the original on December 24, 2019. Retrieved November 14, 2019.
  19. ↑ Kafka, Peter (March 27, 2019). "Bustle Digital, the company that bought Gawker and Mic, has acquired the Outline". Recode. Archived from the original on March 30, 2019. Retrieved March 31, 2019.
  20. ↑ Bloomgarden-Smoke, Kara (March 26, 2018). "Bustle Digital Group Acquires The Zoe Report". WWD. Archived from the original on July 6, 2019. Retrieved July 6, 2019.
  21. ↑ Spangler, Todd (June 27, 2019). "Bustle Digital Group Buys Nylon, Plans to Relaunch Print Edition of Fashion and Culture Mag (EXCLUSIVE)". Variety . Archived from the original on November 8, 2019. Retrieved November 14, 2019.
  22. ↑ Spangler, Todd (July 23, 2019). "Bustle Digital Buys Digital-Media Startup Inverse, Its Eighth Acquisition to Date". Variety. Archived from the original on December 31, 2019. Retrieved December 31, 2019.
  23. ↑ "Bustle Digital Buys Scary Mommy's Parent Company for $150 Million in Stock". Variety. July 21, 2021. Retrieved December 19, 2022.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.