The Swiss expertise firm Keleops acquired the G/O Media title Kotaku on Wednesday, marking the most recent step within the gradual dissolution of G/O Media. Monetary particulars weren’t disclosed.
That is the second asset Keleops has acquired from G/O Media, after it snapped up Gizmodo in June 2024 for an unknown worth.
Following the spin-off, G/O Media now has just one remaining editorial title, The Root, because it started its efforts final January to pare down its portfolio.
G/O’s piecemeal wind-down continues
The deal marks the penultimate sale in a broader 15-month unwinding of G/O Media, whose belongings have been step by step offered off one after the other.
Starting with the sale of Lifehacker to Ziff Davis in March 2023, G/O Media has since offloaded Jezebel, Deadspin, Quartz, The Onion, and Gizmodo, amongst others.
The corporate had begun pursuing particular person consumers after abandoning its seek for a portfolio-wide acquisition, as ADWEEK beforehand reported. The transfer mirrored each strategic necessity and a grim outlook for digital publishing, the place visitors has declined and monetization fashions face rising stress.
“It’s truthful to say they’re seeking to divest,” a supply instructed ADWEEK on the time. “There’s not that a lot positivity about the way forward for publishing, in order that they’re attempting to extract as a lot worth as doable.”
Keleops expands U.S. footprint
Keleops, based in 2014 as a efficiency advertising agency, has quickly developed right into a digital media operator with a specific deal with client expertise.
The corporate owns a number of French-language tech websites, together with 01net and Presse-citron, and entered the U.S. market with its Gizmodo acquisition final 12 months.
With Kotaku, the corporate is deepening its presence in English-language publishing, as the corporate plans to spend money on Kotaku’s editorial progress and keep its current group, in keeping with chief government Jean-Guillaume Kleis.
The corporate makes its cash by means of a mixture of show adverts, branded content material, and affiliate income—with out counting on subscriptions—and at present reaches round 20 million month-to-month guests, in keeping with Keleops.
“Gaming is a robust and vibrant area,” Kleis mentioned within the announcement. “Kotaku has been a defining voice in that area, and we’re excited to assist it develop.”
Non-public fairness exits, European purchaser steps in
Nice Hill Companions, which shaped G/O Media in 2019 after shopping for Gizmodo Media Group and The Onion from Univision for roughly $40 million, had hoped to execute a textbook personal fairness turnaround: purchase cheaply, make investments, and promote for a revenue.
However inside instability, union tensions, and shifting advert economics made for a bumpier highway.
After reportedly recouping its unique funding by means of the Lifehacker sale, Nice Hill moved to divest. The G/O portfolio’s reliance on programmatic promoting, aggregation-heavy editorial fashions, and third-party visitors sources left it uncovered to business headwinds starting from AI disruption to sign loss.
Keleops, in the meantime, sees alternative in precisely that hole—shopping for distressed however recognizable tech manufacturers and relaunching them with contemporary funding and operational help.
After buying Gizmodo, the corporate mentioned it deliberate to open a New York workplace and noticed potential to “do the identical factor with Gizmodo” that it had accomplished with 01net: modernize operations and develop employees whereas honoring the model’s editorial legacy.
A legacy model in a distinct segment vertical
Kotaku, based in 2004, helped outline a era of digital video games journalism and has maintained its voice by means of the rise and fall of a number of mum or dad corporations. Whereas it has confronted staffing cuts and visitors declines in recent times, the model nonetheless holds sway amongst gaming audiences.
Its sale to Keleops suggests the positioning might but discover a steady residence, one thing that has eluded lots of its friends within the post-Gawker period.
“We’re happy with Kotaku’s legacy,” G/O Media CEO Jim Spanfeller mentioned in a press release, “and we look ahead to seeing it thrive in its subsequent chapter.”
