Category: News

Lupa Systems Acquires Three Major Divisions of Vox Media: New York Magazine, Vox Media Podcast Network, and Vox

Lupa Systems, James Murdoch’s media and technology holding company, has agreed to acquire New York Magazine, the Vox Media Podcast Network, and Vox from the digital media group Vox Media. The properties, known for editorial excellence and deeply engaged audiences, will operate as a subsidiary of Lupa Systems called Vox Media. Eater, Popsugar, SB Nation, The Dodo, and The Verge are not included in the transaction. These divisions’ roster of influential journalists, top-rated podcasts, and digital brands with large social footprints, together with the group’s iconic biweekly print magazine, will give Lupa exceptional new reach across platforms and fit neatly into Lupa’s growing global portfolio. “This acquisition aligns well with our existing holdings and investments and reflects both our interest in the forward edge of culture and our deep commitment to ambitious journalism and agenda-setting conversations,” said James Murdoch. “It will allow us to apply new tools across the businesses we are building, adding substantial production, distribution, and editorial capability to our group.” Lupa’s acquisition of New York Magazine includes its must-read verticals, The Cut, Vulture, Intelligencer, The Strategist, Curbed, and Grub Street. Vox brings multiplatform leadership in video, text, and podcasts like Today, Explained. The Vox Media Podcast Network, home to popular shows such as Pivot with Kara Swisher and Scott Galloway, Criminal, and Where Should We Begin? with Esther Perel, has been the fastest growing business within Vox Media and will immediately put Lupa at the top of the podcast field, which now reaches 58% of Americans monthly, according to Edison Research, including two out of three people between the ages of 18 and 54. The new Vox Media will be led by Jim Bankoff, who co-founded Vox Media and has led its growth since its early days as a network of a dozen grassroots sports blogs. He will be CEO of the new company upon closing. “I couldn’t be more thrilled to partner with James and Lupa Systems. Each one of these Vox Media divisions is marked by its strong relevance with audiences, its commitment to quality, and its enormous growth potential. We are incredibly proud to have built and scaled several of the leading media properties of this generation. Together under Lupa’s stewardship we are primed to be the best home for talent and the most dynamic media company of this new era,” said Jim Bankoff.  Lupa’s acquisition of the Vox Media properties brings together two groups that place a premium on being at the center of the cultural conversation. Lupa’s holdings include MCH Group’s Art Basel, which sets the global art agenda at its annual events in Paris, Basel, Miami, Hong Kong, and Doha and Tribeca Enterprises, the media and entertainment company co-founded by Robert DeNiro and Jane Rosenthal. Through Bodhi Tree Systems, Lupa also holds a material stake in India’s leading streaming entertainment and sports platform, JioStar with viewership of over 750M. James Murdoch has deep experience in media, having served as CEO of 21st Century Fox, as well as Europe’s BSkyB and Sky plc. Before that, he was CEO of Asia’s Star TV, which he built out into one of the region’s top news, sports and entertainment franchises. Since founding Lupa, James Murdoch has partnered with Uday Shankar to create Bodhi Tree Systems, which houses media and consumer businesses in South Asia, with a particular focus on India’s robust market. He and his wife, Kathryn have invested more than $50M through their foundation Quadrivium in support of better journalism, including founding SciLine, a service that connects journalists to scientific expertise, and the American Journalism Project, which supports local journalism with better business models. They were also founding investors in The Bulwark. Since its founding, Vox Media has grown both organically–launching new media brands including Vox–and through targeted acquisitions. Vox Media was early to podcasting, and nimble and forward-thinking in building a podcast network that positioned the company at the vanguard of a fast-changing media landscape. Vox, under the leadership of editor-in-chief Swati Sharma, has grown a membership program with tens of thousands of paying subscribers, a thriving YouTube channel with nearly 13 million subscribers, and podcasts including Unexplainable, The Gray Area, and America, Actually. In 2019, Vox Media acquired New York Magazine, reinforcing and diversifying its subscription and ecommerce revenue streams in addition to its traditional base of advertising, while continuing to publish stories that drive the national conversation. Under the leadership of editor-in-chief David Haskell and Vox Media president & vice chair Pam Wasserstein New York has thrived, challenging and fascinating a growing readership, building a diverse and growing business, and winning multiple accolades for the excellence of its prodigious editorial output. The Vox Media Podcast Network, under the leadership of Ray Chao, general manager, and Nishat Kurwa, executive producer, has grown into a portfolio of nearly 50 leading shows and reaches an audience of tens of millions across audio, video, and social platforms. The podcast network has also amassed a growing presence in live events, with nearly 50 live shows from across its portfolio in 2025 and more expected in 2026. LionTree acted as financial advisor to Vox Media in connection with the transaction. ABOUT LUPA SYSTEMS Lupa Systems, founded by James Murdoch in March 2019, is a private holding company with locations in New York and Mumbai. Media Contact: Juleanna Glover, Juleanna@ridgelywalsh.com ABOUT NEW YORK MAGAZINE Since its founding in 1968, New York Magazine has obsessively chronicled the ideas, people, and cultural events that shape our world. The beloved and influential New York brands include the groundbreaking biweekly print magazine New York and six thriving verticals: Intelligencer, delivering national news and sharp commentary on politics, business, technology, and the media; The Cut, covering style, self, culture, and power; Vulture, the premier site for culture news, criticism, and service; The Strategist, dedicated to shopping the internet smartly; Curbed, covering cities and city life; and Grub Street, home to food news and authoritative restaurant criticism.  Under Vox Media President Pam Wasserstein and Editor-in-Chief David Haskell, the magazine has won eight National Magazine

May 20, 2026

Vox Media and Global Marketing Influencer Seth Matlins Launch “Create or Destroy” Podcast as Part of Multi-Platform Partnership

Vox Media, in partnership with The Wisdomous Company, today announced a new podcast, Create or Destroy: Reimagining Marketing, a weekly business series created and hosted by Seth Matlins, one of global marketing’s most influential thinkers and voices.  Premiering Tuesday, May 12, Create or Destroy features Matlins in conversation with CMOs, CEOs, founders, and cultural thinkers—the people shaping how businesses grow, evolve, and create – or even destroy – value. Each episode offers candid discussions that are revealing, often surprising, and, when necessary, deliberately challenging. The show’s premise is that every decision a company makes—not just the marketing ones—either creates value or destroys it, and so marketing must be reimagined as an organizational mindset not just a function. Upcoming guests include Gary Vaynerchuk; Mathilde Delhoume, Brand Equity Advisor to LVMH General Management and Former Global Brand Officer LVMH; David Axlerod, Political Consultant and Advisor; Jim Mollica, President of the Luxury Division and CMO at Bose; Lara Balazs, Chief Marketing Officer and EVP, Global Marketing at Adobe; Soyoung Kang, President at eos; Carla Hassan, CMO, JPMorgan Chase and more.  Matlins said: “Create or Destroy isn’t a marketing show, it’s a business show, built for the CEOs, CFOs, Boards, and CMOs who understand, or are beginning to understand, that marketing and growth aren’t separate conversations, that marketing isn’t a function but a force multiplier, and that the distance between companies that create compounding value and the ones quietly destroying it is, at its core, a marketing gap.” In addition to the weekly show, Matlins, Vox Media and The Wisdomous Company are convening a global event series — multiday CMO summits, strategic workshops, and intimate discussions designed to bring the show’s thesis ideas to audiences from the C-suite to aspiring marketers and business leaders. The partnership’s first CMO gathering takes place this September in London, followed by a CMO and business leader retreat in the U.S. in Napa in October. The events are an extension of the show’s premise: that understanding marketing as a strategic enterprise capability isn’t just a competitive advantage, it’s a competitive requirement. “Seth has an unparalleled ability to convene community among business executives and distill key insights about growth,” said Ray Chao, SVP & GM of podcasts at Vox Media. “We’re excited to partner with Seth to build Create or Destroy and a new global slate of live events.”  Matlins brings over thirty years of work building brands and businesses across categories and around the world. Before founding The Wisdomous Company and partnering with Vox Media, he was Managing Director of the Forbes CMO Network, started the marketing practice at Creative Artists Agency, was the first Global CMO at Live Nation, led Cultural Strategy and Insights and Entertainment Marketing at Endeavor’s cultural marketing agency, and was President of Rock the Vote. Across each, his career reflects a single through-line: that enterprises willing to treat marketing as central to how they think and operate grow faster, more profitably and more sustainably. Create or Destroy is this argument, extended and probed. At Vox Media, Create or Destroy: Reimagining Marketing with Seth Matlins joins one of the largest podcast publishers in the U.S. and an industry-leading slate of business and technology programming — including Pivot (Kara Swisher and Scott Galloway), Decoder (Nilay Patel), Solutions (Henry Blodget), Channels (Peter Kafka), ACCESS (Alex Heath and Ellis Hamburger), and Waveform: The MKBHD Podcast (Marques Brownlee). Create or Destroy: Reimagining Marketing with Seth Matlins is available wherever you get your podcasts. About Vox Media Vox Media, the leader in modern media, is home to a portfolio of top talent and engaging editorial brands that ignite conversations and set trends, including Eater, Vox, The Verge, SB Nation, The Dodo, New York Magazine, The Cut, and Vulture. The company’s podcast network is one of the largest in the U.S., publishing premium shows that inform, entertain, and delight, including Pivot, Criminal, Today Explained, Where Should We Begin?, Stay Tuned with Preet, The Vergecast, Waveform, and A Touch More. Across platforms, Vox Media ignites culture through stories that shape all aspects of our audience’s lives. About The Wisdomous Company The Wisdomous Company is an editorially-driven media and events company focused on helping the world’s largest companies—and some of its smallest—drive more sustainable, profitable growth.  

May 11, 2026

Vox Media’s Prof G Markets Announces National Tour Kicking Off May 27th 

Tickets are on sale now Today, Vox Media announced that Prof G Markets, hosted by NYU Professor and entrepreneur Scott Galloway and writer and analyst Ed Elson, will go on tour for the first time this spring. Kicking off on Wednesday, May 27th in San Francisco, with additional stops in Los Angeles, Miami, Chicago, and New York City, Galloway and Elson will bring their sharp market insights–and special guests–to live audiences across the country.  The tour’s dates and locations include: Wednesday, May 27: San Francisco, CA at The Castro Theater Thursday, May 28: Los Angeles, CA at The Wiltern Saturday, May 30: Miami, FL at The Fillmore  Monday, June 1: Chicago, IL at The Vic  Tuesday, June 2: New York City, NY at The Town Hall  “Markets are loud, messy, and often irrational, so it felt right to bring the show out of the studio and into a room full of people,” said Elson. “We’re very excited to go live.” When asked about the tour alongside Elson, Galloway said: “I taught that bitch everything he knows. I can’t wait to see everybody!” Since its launch in 2022, Prof G Markets has grown exponentially, becoming a go-to series for younger audiences looking to connect with financial experts. As the #1 Business Podcast on Apple Podcasts (Q4 2025),  Prof G Markets serves as a daily briefing on the news moving markets – from earnings and geopolitics, to Big Tech and AI.  “Scott and Ed have built the preeminent daily business news show, reaching millions across audio, video, and social platforms,” said Ray Chao, Vox Media’s senior vice president and general manager of podcasts. “We’re excited to bring sharp insights and bad jokes to live audiences nationwide on Prof G Markets’ first-ever live tour.” This is the second tour for Galloway. Last year, Pivot, hosted by Galloway and Kara Swisher, sold out shows across the country with over 11,000 attendees.  Tickets for the Prof G Markets Tour are available now.  About Prof G Markets Prof G Markets is your daily briefing on the news moving markets — from earnings and geopolitics, to Big Tech and AI. Hosted by Scott Galloway and Ed Elson, we cut through the noise with no-BS analysis. Tune in to understand what’s happening, why it matters, and how to stay ahead. Fast takes. Clear insights. No jargon — just signal. About Vox Media  Vox Media, the leader in modern media, is home to a portfolio of top talent and engaging editorial brands that ignite conversations and set trends, including Eater, Vox, The Verge, SB Nation, The Dodo, New York Magazine, The Cut, and Vulture. The company’s podcast network is one of the largest in the U.S., publishing premium shows that inform, entertain, and delight, including Pivot, Criminal, Today Explained, Where Should We Begin?, Stay Tuned with Preet, The Vergecast, Waveform, and A Touch More. Across platforms, Vox Media ignites culture through stories that shape all aspects of our audience’s lives.

April 16, 2026