On Wednesday Barry Diller’s InterActiveCorp’s (IAC) publishing division Dotdash announced that it had reached a deal to acquire Meredith according to a report in the New York Times. Dotdash has 14 lifestyle journalism sites with two of its more popular ones being Serious Eats and Investopedia. It made its presence felt in the nineties with the website Ask before it was bought by IAC from the New York Times Company for $300 million, almost a decade ago.

Meredith was founded in 1902 by Edwin T.Meredith. He worked as the agriculture secretary under President Woodrow Wilson. He published a popular magazine called Successful Farming and the family is still involved in the bush. In 2018, Meredith bought Time Inc. for $2.8 billion and became a media giant. It later divested some of its portfolio including Time, Sports Illustrated and more.

The Times also reported that an IAC spokeswoman said that Meredith will be based at the Dotdash in Chelsea, Manhattan in New York City. Although it will move to Dotdash’s headquarters, the new publishing giant would “keep a presence” in Des Moines, according to the spokesman. Meredith has had a longtime presence in Des Moines, as a major employer.

In a joint statement, the companies said that the purchase price was nearly $2.7 billion or $42.18 per share. It also said that the new company would be called Dotdash Meredith if the deal went through and Neil Vogel, the chief executive of Dotdash would lead the new company.

On Wednesday, in an investor call, Mr. Vogel said that he was not planning on “cost synergy.” Cost synergy in merger parlance means layoffs or other cuts. He also said that the aim was to help the brands maintain their print stance in the digital world.

Variety reported that if the deal goes through, as hoped for, by the end of the year, the new company will reach roughly 150 million consumers per month and will include a whopping 95 percent of the women in America, according to the companies.

The joint portfolio will also contain premium media assets such as

Verywell
Investopedia
The Balance
The Spruce
Simply Recipes
Serious Eats
Byrdie
Treehugger
Brides
People
EW
Better Homes & Gardens
InStyle.