Vox Media offloads Outsports to Q.Digital

LGBTQ+ publisher Q.Digital has acquired Outsports from Vox Media. The deal was an all-stock equity transaction in which the co-founders of Outsports, which covers LGBTQ-related issues and athletes in sports, will get equity in Q.Digital.

The non-cash transaction means Q.Digital effectively takes over Outsports’ cost of operations and revenue from Vox Media, keeping the team intact. All seven people on the Outsports team have moved to Q.Digital as part of the “acqui-hire” deal, including co-founders Jim Buzinski and Cyd Zeigler and five contributors, said Scott Gatz, CEO of Q.Digital. Outsports officially migrated to Q.Digital on March 4, Buzinski said.

Vox Media acquired 24-year-old Outsports in 2011, and it was the only LGBTQ publication at the company, Buzinski said. When Gatz heard that Vox Media was looking at ways to scale back its portfolio at the end of last year and that the Outsports team was at risk of shuttering, Q.Digital swooped in, he told Digiday.

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