Gunderson Dettmer is representing client The Athletic, a digital subscription-based sports media company, in its acquisition by The New York Times Company. The transaction is expected to close in the first quarter of 2022. President and CEO of The New York Times Company Meredith Kopit Levien said that The Athletic puts The New York Times in a position to be a global leader in sports journalism and offer English speakers around the world another reason to turn to the Times Company to meet their daily news and life needs.

In the announcement of the transaction, co-founders of The Athletic Alex Mather and Adam Hansmann said, “We started The Athletic to bring fans closer to the teams, players, and leagues they love through deep, immersive journalism and storytelling. Today marks a thrilling milestone for that dream, one realized because of the hard work of every single one of our employees. We are proud to have The Athletic become part of The Times Company’s family of subscription products. When we founded the company, we hoped to become the sports page for every city in the world. We’re excited to continue serving our avid subscribers as we grow and scale with the help of the most important journalistic organization and the leader in digital subscription news.”

The Gunderson deal team is being led by corporate partner Andy Bradley and M&A partner John Olson.  Associates Mei Li, Jared Mayberry, Nicholas Agate, and John Paul Karas rounded out the corporate/M&A team.  Partner Natalie Pierce and associate Jeff Salomon advised on labor matters, with associates Laurel Fedder and Sofia Rattes providing employee benefits support.

Partner Jaime Narayan and associates Tina Xu and Sienna White advised on taxation matters and associates Julie Mahoney, Emily Lieberman, Brittany Nicely, Scout Moran, and Keon Seif-Naraghi advised on intellectual property and commercial / technology matters.