Time Inc. Acquires Hello Giggles

While the financial terms of the acquisition were not immediately available, The Hollywood Reporter reported the deal is valued at around $30 million. Since mid-2015, PEOPLE and HelloGiggles have partnered to bring custom integrated advertising packages to market.

Big changes are afoot at the country’s biggest magazine publisher: Time Inc.is shuttering All You magazine, effective with its December 2015 issue.

Post the acquisition, HelloGiggles.com will be folded into Time’s People.com and EW.com.

The small site – founded in 2011 by actress, musician and TV personality Zooey Deschanel, Molly McAleer and Sophia Rossi – was nabbed for a purchase price of around $20 million, the Wall Street Journal reports. Chairman and CEO Joe Ripp said in a release.

“HelloGiggles’ trusted content, highly-engaged consumer and quality, scalable contributor network makes it a natural and strategic fit for extending our reach, particularly for our entertainment network that includes People and Entertainment Weekly”, said Time Inc. HelloGiggles, with 22 employees, will sit alongside magazine brands People and Entertainment Weekly.

The deal is the first under the leadership of Rich Battista, who joined Time Inc.as the Executive VP earlier this year.

The startup, which will retain its name and downtown Los Angeles headquarters, has been exploring other revenue opportunities too.

Deschanel, the chief creative officer, said in a prepared statement that Time ensures “we’ll be able to…inspire and support even more young women with a safe and positive media platform”. Among its latest new ventures is Sports Illustrated Play, a business devoted to youth and amateur sports; in July, it acquired inVNT, a company that specializes in producing live events and media. This fueled massive growth over the past year, from 721,000 unique monthly visitors in September 2013 to 11 million this past September, according to researcher comScore Inc.