Executives from The Hive, The Athletic, and podcast company Luminary are forming a new subscription-based media company, one of the company’s co-founders, Joe Purzycki, confirmed Wednesday.
“There will be more to share in the coming months, but incredibly excited to be working with this team and set of investors as we tackle some of publishing and media’s bigger challenges,” Purzycki tweeted Wednesday, while linking to the story by Axios that broke the news.
There will be more to share in the coming months, but incredibly excited to be working with this team and set of investors as we tackle some of publishing and medias bigger challenges. https://t.co/9vAU5m0wAA— Joe Purzycki (@JoePurzycki) April 14, 2021
Along with Purzycki, who co-founded podcast company Luminary, the other founders are Jon Kelly, founder of Vanity Fair’s “The Hive,” and an early vice president for The Athletic, Max Tcheyan, Axios reported.
The startup will provide news and analysis of business and culture and is being funded by investment firm 40 North (of Standard Industries) and private equity company TPG Growth.
Neither TPG Growth nor 40 North immediately responded to requests for comment from The Hill.
Purzycki will head up the company’s tech initiatives and will be CEO while Kelly will be editor-in-chief and Tcheyan will manage marketing, Axios reported.
Unlike other news startups like Substack — which allows writers to create their own newsletters and content and get directly paid by their audiences — reporters will work for the new company in a newsroom-like atmosphere.
The company intends to hire experienced journalists and give them technology and marketing support to grow subscribers in live audio, newsletter and live events platforms, Axios stated.