Bustle Digital Buys Scary Mommys Parent Company for $150 Million in Stock

Publish date: 2024-09-03

Digital-media company Bustle Digital Group continued its roll-up play: It has acquired Some Spider Studios, the holding company of parenting content brands Scary Mommy, Fatherly and The Dad. The all-stock deal is worth around $150 million, Variety confirmed.

Some Spider Studios is BDG’s ninth acquisition to date. The Some Spider brands will join BDG’s portfolio of other sites, which include Bustle, The Zoe Report, Nylon and Elite Daily. BDG’s purchase of Some Spider Studios was previously reported by the Wall Street Journal.

BDG is headed by founder/CEO Bryan Goldberg. Prior to starting Bustle in 2013, Goldberg co-founded sports publisher Bleacher Report, which was acquired by Turner.

According to Bustle Digital, both BDG and Some Spider Studios achieved profitability in 2020. The company said the addition of Some Spider’s site will grow total unique monthly visitors to more than 100 million.

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“Some Spider Studios has built a loyal audience and thriving business. It is the undisputed leader in the parenting media category,” Goldberg said in a statement. “Acquiring Some Spider Studios is a natural next step for BDG as we expand our newly created parenting portfolio and continue to build a scaled and diversified publishing company.”

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Meanwhile, Goldberg has said his company is looking to go public via a special-purpose acquisition company (SPAC) later this year, following other digital-media companies that have taken the SPAC path including BuzzFeed and Group Nine Media.

Scary Mommy, Fatherly and The Dad will be combined with Romper, BDG’s parenting publication launched in 2015. The group will be led by Emma Rosenblum, chief content officer for lifestyle and parenting.

Some Spider was founded in 2014 by CEO Vinit Bharara, who previously co-founded Diapers.com alongside Marc Lore. Investors in Some Spider include Bharara, Lore and venture-capital firm NEA. With BDG’s acquisition of the company, Bharara will remain as a strategic adviser throughout the transition.

“This transaction is a testament to the best-in-class team we’ve assembled over the years,” Bharara commented. He claimed Some Spider had attracted “a lot of interest from a lot of parties” and that the company chose BDG “because of the great respect they have for this important demographic, our brands and our people, which translated to a strong result for our shareholders.”

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