James Murdoch at the Tribeca Festival in 2021. His investment firm Lupa Systems has held a controlling stake in Tribeca Enterprises since 2019. (Photo by Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images for Tribeca Festival)
Getty Images for Tribeca Festival
On May 20, 2026, Lupa Systems, James Murdoch’s media and technology holding company, agreed to acquire three divisions of Vox Media: New York Magazine, the Vox Media Podcast Network and Vox. Eater, Popsugar, SB Nation, The Dodo and The Verge will remain with the rest of the company under a new corporate name. Jim Bankoff, Vox Media’s co-founder and CEO, will run the acquired group, which will continue to operate as Vox Media. Terms were not disclosed.
The deal is bigger than a magazine and news-site purchase. New York brings more than 400,000 paying subscribers, around 1 million email subscribers and 12 million social followers, alongside eight National Magazine Awards including the 2026 award for general excellence. Vox brings a YouTube channel with close to 13 million subscribers and a membership program in the tens of thousands. The podcast network has nearly 50 shows including Pivot, Criminal, Where Should We Begin?, Today, Explained, Unexplainable, The Gray Area and America, Actually. Vox says the network has grown faster than its other businesses and reaches tens of millions of people across audio, video, social media and live events.
Podcasts are no longer an add-on to publishing. Edison Research’s Infinite Dial 2026 found that 58% of Americans aged 12 and older consumed a podcast in the last month, an all-time high, while 68% of people 35 to 54 did the same. The Vox podcast network gives Lupa shows, talent, regular listeners and an events business.
The Operator
Murdoch’s record as a media executive is useful here because it points to how the Vox properties may be run. His clearest earlier case is Star TV. Lupa’s own deal materials point to his role building Star into one of Asia’s major news, sports and entertainment businesses. That is the better comparison for the Vox deal: not politics, not family history, but the running of media brands across markets, formats and revenue lines.
Murdoch has run large media businesses, sold one and is now investing through Lupa. The Vox deal is one of his clearest attempts to bring that operating experience into his investment company.
Why These Assets Fit
Lupa’s other holdings help explain the deal. Vox’s own announcement places the acquired properties beside Lupa’s investments in Tribeca Enterprises and Art Basel, describing them as part of a shared interest in culture, creativity and talent.
The Vox properties add journalism, a subscription magazine, a large YouTube channel, a nearly 50-show podcast network and a live-events business. The thread is simple: these are businesses that bring audiences together around culture, ideas, entertainment and live experiences.
Digital Media Is Cheaper Than It Used to Be
The deal also comes after a sharp fall in digital-media valuations. BuzzFeed’s announced transaction with Allen Family Digital is the cleanest recent comparison because it is documented in the company’s own release: Allen agreed to acquire 40 million shares at $3 per share for a total purchase price of $120 million, giving his family office a majority stake.
Vox had already brought in Penske Media as a strategic investor in 2023. The terms of that transaction were not disclosed in Vox’s own announcement, so the Penske deal is better used as evidence that Vox’s ownership was already shifting than as a hard valuation point.
The broader point is clear enough without overloading it. Many of the digital-media companies that grew quickly in the 2010s relied heavily on advertising and traffic from large platforms. That traffic became less reliable as audiences moved across short-form video, podcasts, newsletters, creators and social platforms. Buyers are now putting more weight on paying audiences, recognizable brands and businesses that can make money in more than one way.
What Murdoch Is Buying
Murdoch is buying after prices have fallen. But the stronger point is that he is buying properties with audiences that can move across print, digital, audio, video and events.
New York brings subscribers, taste-making and a strong service-journalism business through brands such as The Strategist. Vox brings explanatory journalism, video, membership and a large YouTube audience. The podcast network brings hosts, regular listeners, advertising and live-event potential.
Set beside Tribeca and Art Basel, the deal looks less like a return to news and more like a bet on media brands that can gather valuable audiences in several ways. The test will be straightforward: whether New York keeps and grows its subscribers, whether Vox’s video and membership businesses keep growing, whether the podcast network can expand in audio and events and whether the brands stay distinctive under new ownership.
The deal is not just about buying digital media after prices have fallen. It is about buying media brands that audiences still choose to come back to.