Mic, the politically-focused media platform for millennials has been acquired by Bustle Digital Group for approximately $5M. Bustle Digital Group operates several sites catered towards the interests of the modern women. Mic this week laid off a majority of its staff in anticipation of this acquisition. This marks the fourth acquisition for Bustle and Goldberg, who founded Bleacher Report and later sold it to Turner Broadcasting Systems for $175M in 2012. The startup founded in 2013 previously acquired Elite Daily, the Zoe Report, and FlavorPill earlier this year.
Mic was founded by Christopher Altchek and Jake Horowitz in 2012 and in its peak boasted over 50M monthly viewers. The company had raised $59.5M in reported equity funding and investors include Lightspeed Venture Partners, Lerer Hippeau, Alumni Ventures Group, Advancit Capital, BDMI, Time Warner Investments, Knight Foundation, Red Swan Ventures, WPP Ventures, The Yard Ventures, Axel Springer, You & Mr Jones Brandtech Ventures, James Clark, Digital News Ventures (MDIF Fund), eCandy.com, and kyu Collective. Reports indicate that Horowitz and Altcheck will be staying on, at least for the time being.
Bustle’s combined audience reaches over 80M per month according to the company. Bustle Digital Group earned $46.3M in revenue in 2017 according to the recent Inc 5000 Fastest Growing Companies and has raised $50.5M in funding from investors that include 500 Startups, General Catalyst, GV, GGV Capital, Social Capital, Rothenberg Ventures, Time Warner Investments, and Saban Capital Group.
