NEW YORK — Gizmodo, a longtime technology news and reviews site, has been sold for the third time in the past eight years, this time to a European publisher looking to expand its coverage of the digital scene.
Paris-based Keleops did not disclose how much it paid for Gizmodo when announcing the deal on Tuesday. The site raised $135 million in 2016 Purchased Univision Communications it after its previous owner, Gawker Media, went bankrupt after losing a legal battle with former professional wrestler Hulk Hogan.
Univision subsequently sold Gizmodo and satirical publication The Onion to Boston investment firm Great Hill Partners in 2019 at what was believed to be a fraction of the price paid in the 2016 deal.
G/O Media, a company founded by Great Hill after its acquisition, recently sold The Onion to tech executive Jeff Lawson, who became a billionaire after founding online business software provider Twilio.
Lawson is asking Onion readers to donate $1 to support it financially. Keleops CEO Jean-Guillaume Kleis, who founded his company a decade ago, plans to execute a more traditional business strategy by leveraging the brand and reputation that Gizmodo has built during its more than two decades of tracking technology.
“The combination of Keleops’ unique digital know-how and Gizmodo’s rich content and deep editorial expertise will greatly benefit both our audience and our partners,” Kleis predicted in a statement.
New York-based Gizmodo attracted global attention in 2010 after purchasing an early prototype of Apple’s iPhone 4, which Apple’s late co-founder claimed was stolen. Jobs, who died in 2011, also accused Gizmodo of trying to extort Apple to get the device back, resulting in an apology from a Gizmodo editor. Local prosecutors in Silicon Valley have not filed charges in connection with this fuss.
