Barry Diller wants to turn around the struggling online tabloid The Daily Beast with the help of veteran media moguls Ben Sherwood and Joanna Coles.
Mr. Sherwood, a former Disney executive, and Mr. Coles, a former content chief at Hearst, are both looking to get back into the media game, and Mr. Diller tried unsuccessfully to sell The Daily Beast last year, the people said.
Last year, the Post reported that Business Insider co-founder Henry Blodgett had met with senior executives at The Daily Beast. The New York Times reported Diller was reportedly trying to strike a deal with The Hollywood Reporter and Anclar founder Janice Min.
The two made their pitch to Mr. Diller after several discussions with potential suitors failed, according to people familiar with the matter.
Terms of the contract have not been disclosed, but The New York Times reported Monday Coles and Sherwood will take a minority stake of half in the digital news site, with parent company IAC holding a majority stake, the company said.
The former president of Disney’s ABC Television Group and the former chief content officer of Hearst Magazines will also become salaried employees.
According to The Daily Beast, Mr. Sherwood, 60, will take the reins as CEO and publisher, while Mr. Coles, 61, will become chief creative and content officer.
“These are challenging times for digital journalism, but Ben and Joanna’s combination of experience, expertise and energy makes me optimistic about their ability to make The Beast an enduring and successful company.” said Diller, also a senior IAC executive.
Mr. Diller told the Times that Mr. Coles and Mr. Sherwood made the presentation to revitalize properties that are struggling to turn a profit.
“When Ben and Joanna made this presentation, I was really at the point where I was skeptical that anything other than selling was going to work,” Diller told the Times. “But I was very impressed with their concept, energy and interest.”
An outlet for growth at The Daily Beast. Getty Images
Part of Sherwood’s plan was to evaluate what was working at other publications that were achieving profitability and create its own cocktail of subscriptions, advertising, and events.
Mr. Sherwood recently founded and sold a youth sports company called Mojo after leaving Disney, where he previously ran ABC News.
“Timing is everything, and the current media hellstorm feels like the ideal moment to return to journalism,” Sherwood said. “Yes, it feels like everything is turned upside down right now because of broken business models and innovative technology. We believe this is the ideal entrepreneurial opportunity to deliver on the promise of Beast Rebel.”
A former editor-in-chief of Cosmopolitan and Marie Claire, British-born Coles began his career in British newspapers and has a talent for forging strong connections across industries.
She had been in talks with Sherwood since 2019 as a partner in a digital media venture called Project Scoop. She was contacted by Diller’s banker and ended up pitching a version of the idea to the head of IAC.
Coles and Sherwood believe the upcoming presidential election, former President Trump’s legal troubles, and the conflict in the Middle East are opportunities to return to the news industry.
“We’re taking The Beast back to its Rebel roots and building on that beloved DNA to make it even more beastly,” she offered.
Founded in 2008 by former Vanity Fair editor Tina Brown with support from IAC, The Daily Beast broke big scoops on media, politics and national security, and had a culture of dishonesty. .
In 2010, The Beast merged with Newsweek in an unsuccessful attempt to combine the digital capabilities of a website with the reporting capabilities of a news magazine. Mr. Diller sold Newsweek to International Business Times in 2013.
Meanwhile, The Beast, like other digital news sites, is struggling to grow its readership in the face of increased competition and news aggregation sites. Facebook and Google are also squeezing traffic to digital media sites, impacting ad revenue.
The scrappy site is also struggling financially and is turning to digital subscriptions to boost revenue. Currently, the company charges $4.99 per month with unlimited access or $35 per year.
Despite the hurdles, Diller told the Times he remains optimistic about digital journalism as originally reported.
“When something is behind a paywall, it’s a pretty high bar to get people to actually pay for something,” Diller said. “But guess what? It’s happening everywhere.”
