The deal, valued at more than $300m, gives Murdoch control of a storied magazine and a podcast division with a reach valued by advertisers.<\/p>\n
Published On 20 May 202620 May 2026<\/p>\n
Media scion James Murdoch has agreed to acquire New York Magazine and the Vox Media Podcast Network in a deal that will significantly expand his portfolio and stands to boost his influence over news and entertainment.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis acquisition reflects both our interest in the forward edge of culture and our deep commitment to ambitious journalism,\u201d Murdoch, the younger son of\u00a0media mogul Rupert Murdoch, said in a\u00a0statement on Wednesday announcing the transaction. His company Lupa Systems will buy both properties from Vox Media.<\/p>\n
Recommended Stories list of 4 itemsend of list<\/p>\n
The deal, valued at more than $300m, gives Murdoch control of a storied magazine known for its coverage of culture, politics and fashion, and a podcast division whose reach, among a demographic coveted by advertisers, rivals that of cable television news networks, according to several people with direct knowledge of the acquisition. The politics news site Vox.com is also included.<\/p>\n
Murdoch and his wife Kathryn Murdoch were intimately involved in courting key talent from Vox, specifically Kara Swisher and Scott Galloway, stars of the popular Pivot podcast, as well as several other programmes on the company\u2019s podcast network.<\/p>\n
\u201cI like James and Kathryn,\u201d Swisher said in a phone interview. \u201cUnlike many other media owners these days, they\u2019re savvy about the business and willing to take smart risks.\u201d<\/p>\n
Vox\u2019s podcast division was valued much higher than New York Magazine in the transaction, two of the people said, spotlighting the importance of making sure top programmes were locked in. Pivot, for example, has three years remaining on its contract, which will continue under Murdoch. Swisher met with the investor and his wife Kathryn several times before the deal came together.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn a company like Vox, if its talent doesn\u2019t like something, it\u2019s not gonna happen,\u201d Galloway said in an interview. He added, \u201cJames is the only Murdoch that this deal could have happened with.\u201d<\/p>\n
Several years ago, James was locked in a fierce dispute with his father over the editorial direction and future control of the family\u2019s media empire. In 2019, he founded Lupa after stepping down as chief executive of 21st Century Fox. In 2020, he resigned from the board of News Corp, the publishing arm of the family\u2019s media empire, citing \u201cdisagreements over certain editorial content\u201d.<\/p>\n
Vox\u2019s podcast and publishing assets will operate as a subsidiary of Lupa Systems, which also owns Art Basel, which hosts annual events in Paris, Miami, Hong Kong, and Doha, and Tribeca Enterprises, the media and entertainment company cofounded by Robert De Niro and Jane Rosenthal.<\/p>\n
Vox Media CEO Jim Bankoff will join Lupa Systems and will continue to lead the brands under the Vox Media label, he said in a note to the company\u2019s staff, adding the deal is expected to close in four to six weeks.<\/p>\n
New York Magazine\u2019s\u00a0publications include\u00a0The Cut, Vulture and Intelligencer, with a digital audience of tens of millions and more than 400,000 paying subscribers currently.<\/p>\n
The acquisition does not include other Vox Media brands such as Eater, Popsugar and The Verge.\u00a0These\u00a0brands,\u00a0along\u00a0with SB Nation and The Dodo, will\u00a0become\u00a0an independent company under a new corporate name.<\/p>\n
James\u2019s father, Rupert Murdoch, once owned New York Magazine from the late 1970s till he sold it in 1991.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The deal, valued at more than $300m, gives Murdoch control of a storied magazine and a podcast division…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":238433,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[3366,3365,1725,1208,9,11,10,12,901,2272],"class_list":["post-238432","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-business-and-economy","tag-economy","tag-financial-markets","tag-media","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-headlines","tag-new-york-news","tag-news","tag-united-states","tag-us-canada"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/238432","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=238432"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/238432\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/238433"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=238432"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=238432"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=238432"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}