New York Times Agrees to Acquire the Athletic for $550 Million

The New York Times Co. agreed to buy the Athletic, acquiring a sports-news website with more than 1 million subscribers.

The newspaper publisher is paying $550 million for the Athletic, which will remain a standalone product, Times Chief Executive Officer Meredith Kopit Levien said Thursday in a statement. The deal is expected to close by the end of March.

“Strategically, we believe this acquisition will accelerate our ability to scale and deepen subscriber relationships,” she said.

The Times has more than 8 million paid subscriptions across its digital and print products. The publisher is “now in pursuit of ...