Penske’s media roll-up continues with the purchase of Vox stake

Penske Media, owned by trucking scion Jay Penske, is now the largest shareholder of Vox Media, a company with titles such as New York Magazine, The Cut, Vulture and The Verge.

While Penske Media didn’t disclose the terms of the deal, the stake is 20% of the company for around $100 million, the New York Times first reported. Vox owns a legion of media brands including PopSugar, Recode, Dodo, and NowThis. Vox co-founder Jim Bankoff said the new money would allow the company to grow.

“This investment by Penske Media will allow Vox Media to continue scaling its existing brands and operations while providing resources for future acquisitions and is another step forward in Vox Media’s continued ascent,” said Bankoff.

The investment adds titles to Penske’s growing portfolio of publishers. Over the years the Rolling Stone, The Hollywood Reporter, Billboard and Dick Clark Productions, as well as Fairchild Media and an involvement in the South By Southwest Festival in Austin have been added.

“The alliance of Penske Media and Vox Media will further solidify both companies as leaders in modern media and capitalize on new opportunities at scale,” said Penske, CEO and founder of his namesake company. “Both our companies have shared a similar history of organic and acquisitive growth over time, and it made sense to invest in the future.”

However, the deal also shows how the value of the digital media brand has plummeted.

The last time Vox raised money was in 2015, NBCUniversal invested $200 million at a valuation of about $1 billion, the New York Times reported. This was at a time when major media companies like NBCUniversal were keen to invest in digital brands to reach younger consumers.

Penske will join Vox’s board of directors as a result of the transaction and the two companies will continue to operate independently, the companies said.