European private equity company CVC and media collective Group Black have partnered in a joint bid for Vox Media, Axios reported Tuesday.
The companies submitted a memo outlining a potential deal to Vox Media last week, according to Axios.
A spokesperson for Group Black and Vox Media declined to comment and representatives for CVC did not immediately respond to TheWrap’s request for comment.
Vox Media, which was valued at approximately $1 billion after closing a $200 million funding round in 2015, owns a wide slate of brands, most notably Vox, New York Magazine, The Verge, The Cut, Eater, Vulture and The Strategist.
Other sites under Vox Media include Polygon, SB Nation, Intelligencer, Curbed, Grub Street, Recode, Thrillist, Popsugar, The Dodo, NowThis and Seeker.
The potential acquisition follows Axios’ Nov. 1 report that CVC would join Group Black’s potential acquisition of BDG, formerly known as Bustle Media Group.
Group Black is a media collective comprised of over 150 Black-owned media brands spanning a wide cross-section of multi-channel offerings, per their website, including Afropunk, Essence, Holler and SHE Media.
CVC Capital Partners is an alternative investment manager currently partnered with several brands across media and sports, including Bruin Capital, United Rugby Championship and Volleyball World. A source told Axios that CVC is interested to pursuing media brands in the U.S. as part of their larger strategy.
