Malcolm Owen
Apple paid at least $485 million to acquire Texture, the digital magazine subscription service it acquired in early 2018 and absorbed into Apple News, it has been alleged, with the size of the purchase indicating how much the iPhone maker valued the service's technology and potential.
The launch of the Apple News subscription has resulted in Apple preparing for the closure of Texture to all users, a move it will be performing on May 28. While terms of the deal have not been disclosed in the time since the purchase, it is believed in one report to be at or above the value of $485 million.
According to sources of the New York Post, the $485 million included an up-front payment of $100 million collectively to publishers Conde Nast, Meredith, Hearst, and Rogers in Canada, as well as venture backer KKR.
On top of the first payment, the deal also allegedly provides the publishers with a minimum of $145 million in the first year, followed by at least $240 million in the second and third years. It is unclear exactly how the money will be split between all parties.
Apple is currently in the process of trying to convert current Texture users over towards Apple News+, its $9.99 per month subscription service, before the app closes its doors. While current user counts are unknown, it is thought Texture had around 240,000 subscribers at the time of the March 2018 purchase.
Of that figure, 30 percent was believed to be made up of Windows and Android device users, customers who must switch over to Apple's platforms if they wish to subscribe to Apple News+, due to a lack of apps for other mobile operating systems.
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6 Comments
Interesting, that's a lot of money. Apple though, has shown that when it decides to do something it isn't afraid to spend what is necessary to go all in. . One quibble with the article though:
<blockquote> Apple allegedly paid $485M to acquire Texture, the core of Apple News+ </blockquote>
<blockquote> Apple paid at least $485 million to acquire Texture, the digital magazine subscription service it acquired in early 2018 and absorbed into Apple News, it has been alleged, </blockquote>
Allegedly? Alleged has rather sinister overtones, more than a whiff of illegality. From Merriam Webster
alleged
adjectiveWhile the use is not utterly incorrect, perhaps Suggested, or Rumored would have worked better. At least without the implying something untoward happening.
Well, they just need 8M users to be subscribed for a year to break even, assuming they get 50% of all subscriptions.
wow, that’s as much as they payed for NeXT Inc NeXT Step for Mac OS and Steve Jobs.
That's not a small investment, even for Apple standard.