Uzabase Sells Quartz to CEO and Staff - Business News

Quartz is transitioning to a privately held company, as Zach Seward, the co-founder and Chief Executive Officer, is purchasing the business news platform from its present owner, Uzabase.

Seward detailed the transaction in a recent announcement, characterizing it as a management buyout that will also grant Editor in Chief Katherine Bell and the entire Quartz team ownership stakes in the newly formed entity.

He stated, “Ideally, Quartz’s financial performance and its parent company are not considerations as long as we continue to deliver quality journalism.” Seward continued, “However, this represents a significant milestone for our organization, and we want to communicate this development to you, our readers, whose support and engagement with Quartz have enabled our success over the last eight years.”

Seward indicated that while Uzabase’s ownership proved beneficial, the company is now positioned to thrive as an independent startup, allowing it greater autonomy in pursuing its strategic objectives. As part of this transition, the company intends to seek external investment.

The Wall Street Journal, which initially reported Uzabase’s intention to divest the asset, also conveyed that Uzabase CEO Yusuke Umeda (featured above) has provided a personal loan to assist the site.

Quartz was initially launched in 2012 by Atlantic Media and subsequently acquired by Uzabase, a Japanese financial data and media firm, for $86 million in 2018.

The organization has faced challenges in achieving profitability in recent years, experiencing a $18.4 million loss on $26.4 million in revenue during 2019, and implementing staff reductions affecting approximately 80 positions earlier this year.

A June analysis by Steven Perlberg of Digiday highlighted Quartz’s restructuring efforts centered around its subscription model, but he observed that the platform occupies a precarious position within the digital media landscape: “It doesn’t possess the focused specialization needed to be indispensable to a limited audience, nor the broad reach required to compete effectively on a large scale.”