The Onion Worth More Moola Than The Washington Post
Satirical news site The Onion has managed to snag top dollar when it agreed to sell a hearty hunk of itself to Spanish broadcaster Univision Communications.
The site, best known for its ridiculous headlines like ‘Print Dead at 1803’ and ‘New Department Of Interior Program To Reduce Deer Population By Providing Free Condoms To Fawns’, has scored US$200 million, around AU$291 million, for a 40 per cent stake in the Onion’s parent company.
This then values the enterprise on a whole in the range of US$500 million. Think about that for a minute.
According to Fairfax, this cool price tag is double what Jeff Bezos paid for actual news site the Washington Post in 2013.
And the Financial Times? Sold for about US$1.3 billion last year to Japanese publisher Nikkei. Let’s not even talk about poor old The Boston Globe (good try selling for US$70 million, good try).
But let’s put this into perspective. The Onion’s collection of sites draw in more than 25 million monthly unique users each month. The Financial Times has around 740,000 subscribers in print and online.
The Washington Post hadn’t even started a digital subscription model at the time of Bezos’ purchase, but weekday circulation stood under 500,000.
Maybe it’s not such a ludicrous deal after all. At any rate, here’s some absolute gems of headlines The Onion has gifted to us of late:
- NCAA Investigating God For Giving Gifts To Athletes
- New Robot Warns When Someone’s About To Walk In On You Masturbating
- Average Male 4000 Per Cent Less Effective In Fights Than They Imagine
- Poll Finds Hillary Clinton Candidate Most Americans Want To Have 8-Ounce Glass Of Tap Water With
Those headlines alone are worth $200 mil.
Please login with linkedin to comment
Advertising Standards Bureau Bartle Bogle Hegarty Gareth Cooper harley-davidson Heart Foundation this morningLatest News
Empathy Drives Innovation For Online Florist LVLY
National online flower business, LVLY, is leading the way with a thoughtful marketing movement designed to put customers first by allowing them to opt-out from potentially sensitive marketing messages around big calendar events.
Basketballer Liz Cambage Calls Out Australian Olympic Committee For Whitewashed Photoshoots
Liz Cambage, Australian basketball star, has taken to social media to criticise a lack of racial diversity in recent Australian Olympic Committee photoshoots, indicating she may boycott the Tokyo games. Cambage is a member of the Australian Opals basketball team, and has played in a number of elite leagues including the WNBL, where she played […]
Massachusetts Sues Publicis Health For Role In Opioid Epidemic
Massachusetts state attorney Maura Healey has sued Publicis Health, a subsidiary of Publicis Groupe SA, over allegations of deceptive marketing. Healey argued that Publicis Health used unfair, deceptive marketing tactics to sell a powerful, addictive prescription painkiller called OxyContin on behalf of Purdue Pharma. According to the suit, “dangerous opioid drugs continue to kill hundreds […]
Strategic Insights Agency Nature Takes Four Gongs At Research Society Awards
B&T’s Research Agency Of The Year, strategic insights consultancy Nature, was a big winner at the Research Society Awards last night, taking home four prestigious honours. Nature won the Research Effectiveness Award for Technology and Innovation for its work for Don KRC; Managing Partner Chris Crook (main photo) was accepted into the Research Society’s Fellowship; […]
Special Group Named Global Creative & Independent Agency of the Year
Australasia’s leading independent creative company, Special Group, has been named the world’s best Creative and Independent Agency of the Year by one of the world’s most prestigious advertising titles – the United Kingdom’s Campaign. Special Group – which has offices in Sydney, Melbourne, Auckland and Los Angeles – was named Global Agency of the Year […]
Where Talented Meets Nice: Meet The Humans Of DDB
Where Talented Meets Nice: The Humans of DDB
Clemenger BBDO Sydney, Saatchi & Saatchi And Thinkerbell Awarded In Fast Company’s 2021 World Changing Ideas Awards
The winners of Fast Company’s 2021 World Changing Ideas Awards have just been announced, honoring the businesses, policies, projects, and concepts that are actively engaged and deeply committed to pursuing innovation when it comes to solving health and climate crises, social injustice, or economic inequality. Losing Lena by Clemenger BBDO Sydney was a finalist in […]
Twitter Encourages Users To Think Before They Offend With New Prompt
Twitter seems to be trying to eliminate the sole reason anyone bothers reading Twitter - the offensive comments section.
Steve Smith And Wife Dani Willis Sign On As Cashrewards Official Brand Ambassadors
It appears a certain little episode with a certain bit of sandpaper is all forgotten as Smithy back in the good books.
Wild Rift Gamers Brought Together In Comical Ads By Riot Games And electriclimefilms
electriclimefilms Dubai and Riot Games team up to tell gamers they can play Wild Rift matches anytime and anywhere.
Aussie New Car Sales Hit Record Numbers In April
The threat of a grisly death aside, there's no doubting this COVID bug has proven a boon for retailers' cash registers.
Lights, Camera, Lions! All The Pics From The 2021 Snapchat Cannes Young Lions Ceremony
Adland's future was on display at yesterday's Young Lions. Sadly, the B&T's editor's plumbers crack was also on display.
Australias’ Favourite Design, Business And Culture Conference Returns To Brisbane Powerhouse In 2021
A highlight of Australia’s creative calendar, The Design Conference celebrates its 10th conference with a cracking line-up of 20+ speakers when it returns to Brisbane Powerhouse from Wednesday 16 – Friday 18 June 2021. Over the last ten years, The Design Conference has evolved into one of the world’s premier professional development opportunities at the […]
People’s Choice CMO Poll Update: Two Newbies Move Into The Top Five!
The CMO People's Choice poll has to be the hottest poll in the industry. Well, apart from the Industry Spunk Rat poll.
Will Smith Turns To YouTube To Alleviate ‘Dad Bod’
The Hollywood actor is on a get fit regime, no doubt ably led by Hollywood personal trainers, nutritionists and chefs.
British Airways Puts Employees, Customers At Centre Of New Campaign Via Ogilvy
British Airways uses the tag "the world's favourite airline" despite the booze trolley never doing a second lap.
DesignStudio Promotes Former APAC Partner Mark Liney To Global CEO
Global branding agency DesignStudio has promoted former APAC partner Mark Liney to the group CEO role, responsible for managing its Sydney, London and New York offices.
News Corp Records 3% Revenue Hike In Q3
Rupert decides against releasing the hounds after News Corp reports improving Q3s.
George Clooney Stars In Gorgeously Shot Bread Ad That’ll Have You Straight Back On The Carbs
This has three of life's great pleasures - George Clooney, white sliced bread & peacocks. Okay, not that last one.
Universal Favourite Crafts Maximalist Identity For New Gen-Z Beauty Brand Youthforia
Sydney-based design studio Universal Favourite launched a new branding for US beauty brand Youthforia, whose mission is to make makeup more playful. To appeal to a Gen Z market bored by the minimal aesthetic approach adopted by most beauty brands, Universal Favourite created a maximalist identity. The result is purposefully messy, uncurated, raw.
“The Status Quo Is Unacceptable”: Meet Fck The Cupcakes, The Organisation Fighting Adland Misogyny
Meet Fck The Cupcakes founder & misogyny crusader Jasmin Bedir. Not that B&T is saying stop sending those cupcakes.
Try New Sports Even If You Suck, Says Nike In Latest Work, ‘Play New’
Nothing has B&T staff lacing on the trainers like a new Nike ad. They give better grip on sticky pub floors.
Entries Open For B&T’s Women In Media Awards!
Time to get your entries in for 2021 Women In Media Awards! Or, time to Liquid Paper over the date on your 2020 entry.
Thursday TV Wrap: MasterChef Finds Consistent Thursday Night Wins
MasterChef wins Thursday night's telly numbers and that's despite being strictly off limits at the Calombaris household.
Junkee Launches New Publication For Netflix Australia
Junkee launches publication for Netflix that B&T understands won't include scone recipes & tips to choosing wallpaper.
Creating A Culture Of Privacy Awareness
This expert gives top tips on creating a culture of privacy awareness which appears more than just drawing the curtains.
Lyka And Floraly Team Up To Celebrate Fur Mums This Mother’s Day
This ad is celebrating "fur mums" this Mother's Day. For the record, that's dog loving mums, not sufferers of hirsutism.
It’s Official: Paramount+ Set To Launch In Australia In August
Is your credit card bill mysteriously ballooning from all your unused SVOD & gym subscriptions? Balloon some more here.
APRA AMCOS Taps Klarrio To Accelerate IT Modernisation
APRA AMCOS, a music rights management organisation for Australian and New Zealand songwriters and music publishers, has engaged Klarrio to help modernise its IT architecture and accelerate its digital transformation journey. Klarrio, a systems integrator specialising in real-time data streaming and customised IT architecture modernisation, is helping APRA AMCOS migrate from an on-premise, single-threaded processing […]
IAB’s MeasureUp To Return In 2021
IAB's MeasureUp set for 2021 return. B&T strongly tipping that the words cookieless & data will feature heavily.
