Report: 'Yard Sale' At Vox Media

Vox Media's CEO Jim Bankoff's plan to sell off major pieces of the company in separate deals over the coming weeks, effectively breaking up one of the most prominent digital media conglomerates built in the 2010s.

This story broke via Dylan Byers at Puck this week.

Assets on the block: 

• Vox Media Podcast Network: Produces around 40 shows (e.g., shows featuring Sue Bird & Megan Rapinoe, Cam Heyward, Maria Sharapova, and others). It was shopped aggressively last year and remains a key asset.
• New York Magazine (and its digital properties like Vulture, The Cut, Intelligencer, etc.): Acquired by Vox in 2019 in a high-profile all-stock deal.
• Portfolio of digital brands: Includes The Verge (tech), Eater (food), SB Nation (sports blogs, one of Vox's foundational assets), and others like Vox.com.

Bankoff and investment bank LionTree have been shopping these since late 2025. Sources describe negotiations as “positive” but “far from conclusion,” with the expectation of multiple closings soon. One insider put it: “There’s not one deal, there are deals.”

Vox Media started in the mid-2000s with SB Nation and grew into a major player by acquiring or launching brands like The Verge, Vox, Eater, and Polygon. It raised hundreds of millions (peaking at a ~$1B valuation around the 2015 NBCUniversal investment) and positioned itself as a modern, diversified media company with strong tech and advertising capabilities.

The 2019 acquisition of New York Media was a crown jewel move, blending digital-native brands with legacy prestige. However, like many peers (Vice, BuzzFeed, etc.), Vox faced challenges from shifting ad markets, platform dependency, and economic pressures. Penske Media became its largest shareholder in 2023.Last year, Vox explored a full company sale or major spinoffs (especially the podcast business, seen as a growth area). Talks with buyers, including Versant (the CNBC/MS NOW parent with historical ties via NBCU), continued even after some pauses.

Why the breakup now?  This reflects the broader end of the “sprawling digital media conglomerate” era. Ad revenue has been tough, audiences are fragmented, and individual assets (especially podcasts or strong vertical brands) often fetch better prices standalone than as part of a larger entity. Byers calls it an “admirable, atom-splitting attempt” and an “anticlimactic end” to the 2010s roll-up strategy.

Deals are expected to wrap up in the coming weeks, though nothing is finalized. This would leave whatever remains of Vox significantly smaller or potentially dissolved as a single entity.