Digital media company G/O Media has sold two of its remaining editorial properties, tech and business news site Quartz and commerce site The Inventory, to the Canadian software firm Redbrick.
Financial details of the transaction were not disclosed. Axios first reported the news.
Redbrick plans to use Quartz as part of an effort to scale publishing sites from its portfolio companies, and will integrate its newsletter platform, Paved, with Quartz to better monetize its email readership, the company said in a press release.
“As the media landscape continues to shift, the only way to survive and thrive is by embracing the advancements in innovation to connect and engage with audiences,” said Redbrick chief executive Tobyn Sowden in a statement.
“Redbrick’s portfolio will serve as the foundation for the future of media, enabling media companies like Quartz to develop direct relationships with audiences, deliver personalized experiences wherever people are watching, and create a more sustainable ecosystem with better advertising touchpoints.”
The sale of Quartz, in particular, marks the end of an ownership that had been strained from the get-go. When G/O Media acquired Quartz in April 2022, the two companies had separate monetization strategies—Quartz had a paywall, unlike the rest of the G/O Media portfolio—and corporate cultures that would prove to be odd bedfellows.
One year after the acquisition, traffic to Quartz plummeted despite the publisher lifting its paywall, its paying readership had evaporated, and employee turnover left the title understaffed. The business news publisher, which was at one point considered the cutting-edge of digitally native journalism, has now been sold four times in seven years, likely dwindling in value with each transaction.
The end of G/O Media
The spin-off represents the near total dissolution of the G/O Media portfolio, which at its height consisted of almost a dozen editorial brands.
The unraveling began in 2023, when G/O Media sold Lifehacker to Ziff Davis and Jezebel and Splinter to Paste Media. In January 2024, G/O Media accelerated its efforts to sell off its portfolio, as ADWEEK reported at the time.
That year, the digital media company embarked on a series of sales, offloading The Takeout, Jalopnik, Deadspin, Gizmodo, and The Onion.
