Sports Illustrated Has Potential Buyer For $110 Million

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According to the Wall Street Journal, Sports Illustrated has a serious bidder on their hands. Authentic Brands Group, a development company that owns several notable estates and brands, has $110 million on the table for SI and is “likely to prevail” in the purchase, per WSJ’s Ben Mullin.

https://twitter.com/BenMullin/status/1121482404072316928

Nothing is in concrete, as of now, but there is some pressure to get a deal done. Last year, Merideth Corporation put Sports Illustrated, Time, Fortune, and Money on the market, and today, Sports Illustrated is the only one that remains. Time and Fortune sold for $190 million and $150 million, respectively, while Money decided to quit printing.

Merideth originally wanted $150 million for Sports Illustrated and their assets, including FanSided, but that obviously hasn’t worked.

For Authentic Brands Group, $110 million is a steal, though Awful Announcing noted that it “appears to be just for SI, not FanSided.” You’d think if Fortune sold for $150 million, Sports Illustrated would be at least as much, if not more. Just two years ago, when they were still under the same umbrella, SI had an audience more than twice the size of Fortune, according to The Association of Magazine Media.

Then again, maybe there are factors we don’t know about. Vanity Fair published a fine article about the situation one day before WSJ reported the new bid, calling Sports Illustrated the “challenged from a business perspective.”

With Time and Fortune apparently in good hands, that just leaves Sports Illustrated, which is said to be the most challenged of the brands from a business perspective. It’s also the title whose sale has dragged on far longer than any had anticipated, with still no end in sight. 

(via Vanity Fair)

Moving forward, I just want to see SI in good hands. It doesn’t matter who buys it, just as long as they can be something similar to the new owners of Time, who, upon purchase, promised “investment and editorial independence” to the staff.

Sports Illustrated is a fixture in sports media and, even though they’re working under less than ideal conditions right now, they still produce great content. They’ve had some missteps, sure, but the landscape is better when they’re around.