Sports-media outlet The Athletic will no longer pursue merger talks with news company Axios, sources familiar with the situation said, but it is continuing to work out an agreement that could expand its subscription business, Pitch Book reported on Friday.
The New York Times has engaged in discussions to take over The Athletic, according to The Wall Street Journal. The Athletic's most recent funding series in early 2020 valued the subscription-based sports media at about $475 million.
Rumors surfaced at the end of March that Axios might consolidate with the sports news site to form a bigger digital media company. But that deal is reportedly off and executives at The Athletic are now eyeing NYT as a potential corporate partner, insiders said.
The Athletic considers the Times as a contender for a merger, sources said. Such a deal would bring the Athletic's more than 1 million paying subscribers to the Times, which has seen digital-news subscriptions drop since former U.S. President Donald Trump left office.
"As a general matter of policy, we don't comment on speculations about potential acquisitions or divestitures," a New York Times representative said to The Hill.
Shares of NYT hovered near session highs, up 1.8%, following reports that the newspaper publisher may be interested in a partnership with The Athletic.
Axios also declined to comment on the news. The Athletic did not immediately respond to requests for comment from The Hill.
The Athletic competes against a parade of sites that mostly offer free sports content, including the Bleacher Report, Yahoo! Sports, Ringer and ESPN.com, Pitch Book said.
