The Hill, a political-news organization known for its inside-the-Beltway coverage, has been sold to Nexstar Media Group Inc. for $130 million, the companies said Friday. (WSJ)
Nexstar, the largest operator of local TV stations in the country, said in a news release that the deal would expand its digital reach and coverage of political news. It became the country’s largest local TV operator when it acquired Tribune Media in 2018 in a $4.1 billion deal, gaining 42 television stations and a cable network. (NYT)
The Hill’s owner, Jimmy Finkelstein, has been shopping the outlet around for months. Co-founded by Finkelstein’s father in 1994, it launched as a newspaper and has since expanded aggressively into digital. It’s faced increasing pressure over the past 15 years as upstarts launched and expanded to cover D.C. and politics. (Axios)
The publication’s top selling point has been growing online traffic. The company reported 48 million average monthly users in 2020, sizable by online news standards. Sources say the business plan was worth about $40 million in 2020 revenue, with $10 million in net profit. (Mediaite)
The Hill brings more than 100 political journalists to Nexstar, whose NewsNation and local news operations employ some 5,500 journalists who produce more than 275,000 hours of local and national news annually. (Variety)