Vox Media, the venture-backed digital news company, will acquire tech site Re/code for an undisclosed amount of stock, Sydney Ember reported Tuesday for The New York Times.
According to a release from Vox Media, which owns seven separate brands dedicated to style, tech, culture and current events coverage, the deal includes co-founders Kara Swisher and Walt Mossberg, who will both join the company.
The acquisition is the latest in a series of entrepreneurial moves for Swisher and Mossberg, who struck out on their own in 2014 to form Re/code after developing technology website AllThingsD for The Wall Street Journal. Re/code will continue to publish on its own website, but the brand will rely on its new parent company for several services, including production, marketing, communications and creative services, according to a release from Vox Media.
In an interview with The New York Times, Swisher acknowledged that part of the lure of joining Vox Media was access to the company’s audience, which totaled more than 53 million U.S. unique visitors in April:
The size of that audience, especially for The Verge, was a particular draw for Ms. Swisher and Mr. Mossberg, who together controlled the majority of ReCode. In return, ReCode — with its access to technology executives and the ability to break major news stories — could lend The Verge more legitimacy. And while both sites cover technology, Nilay Patel, the editor in chief of The Verge, said they had different perspectives.
In a statement on Re/code, Swisher and Mossberg said the site would continue “under the same name and leadership, with editorial independence.”
We plan as well to collaborate where appropriate with Vox Media’s current and very successful tech news site, The Verge. While the two sites occasionally overlap, we have focused on the business of tech, while The Verge has focused on covering tech from a lifestyle perspective.
The purchase of Re/code is the latest of several additions to Vox Media’s growing portfolio of digital publications. In 2010, the acquisitive company purchased Curbed.com L.L.C., which owned the sites Curbed, Racked and Eater.
Last year, Vox Media announced a $46.5 million funding round led by equity firm General Atlantic.
