PopSugar

PopSugar
Available inEnglish
Founded2006; 18 years ago (2006)
Headquarters
San Francisco, California,[1]
U.S.
OwnerVox Media
Founder(s)Lisa Sugar
Brian Sugar
ProductsPopSugar, PopSugar Must Have, Beauty by POPSUGAR
URLpopsugar.com
LaunchedMarch 2006; 18 years ago (2006-03)

PopSugar Inc. is an American media and technology company that is the parent to the media property PopSugar (stylized POPSUGAR) and a monthly subscription business PopSugar Must Have. The company was founded in 2006 by married couple Brian and Lisa Sugar as a pop culture blog.[2] The company is part of American digital holding company Vox Media.

History

Husband and wife Brian Sugar and Lisa Sugar founded PopSugar, in 2006, after a suggestion by blogger Om Malik that Lisa turn her celebrity gossip hobby into a company.[3] Brian became CEO and Lisa Editor-in-Chief, and they added venture capitalist Michael Moritz to the board.[4]

In 2007, the company acquired ShopStyle, a fashion shopping search engine,[5] followed by acquisitions of Starbrand Media,[6] FreshGuide,[7] and Circle of Moms in 2012.[8] In 2013, the company officially changed its name from Sugar Inc. to PopSugar, and announced that it was profitable and had grown to over 450 employees.[9] In 2019, American digital holding company Group Nine Media acquired PopSugar in an all-stock transaction.[10]

Operations

PopSugar Inc operates the brands PopSugar and PopSugar Must Have. PopSugar features lifestyle content targeted towards women 18–34, across topics such as beauty, entertainment, fashion, fitness, food, and parenting, on mobile, video, and social media.

PopSugar Must Have was a subscription service that sends subscribers a monthly box of items curated by PopSugar editors. It also offered special edition boxes with retailers such as CFDA, Neiman Marcus, and Target. Summer 2020 was the final PopSugar Must Have box.

Headquartered in San Francisco, PopSugar is funded by Sequoia Capital and Institutional Venture Partners.[11] The company also has offices in Chicago, London, Los Angeles, and New York.[12]

References

  1. ^ "Company Overview of PopSugar, Inc". Bloomberg Business. Bloomberg. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
  2. ^ Morell, Katie (March 13, 2013). "Lisa and Brian Sugar of PopSugar: From Blog to Multimillion-Dollar Media Giant". Openforum. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
  3. ^ "Can Sugar Break Through?". Digiday. July 30, 2012.
  4. ^ Arrington, Michael (October 16, 2006). "Sequoia Invests in Blog Network Sugar Publishing". TechCrunch.
  5. ^ Ostrow, Adam (September 25, 2007). "Sugar Publishing Acquires Social Shopping Site ShopStyle". Mashable.
  6. ^ Weisenthal, Joseph (May 21, 2008). "Sugar Publishing Acquires TV Shopper Starbrand Media". PaidContent.org. Archived from the original on June 23, 2013.
  7. ^ "Sugar Publishing Acquires FreshGuide". xconomy.com. June 8, 2010.
  8. ^ Rao, Leena (February 21, 2012). "Sugar Inc. Acquires Social Network And Community For Mothers Circle Of Moms". TechCrunch.
  9. ^ Claire Cain Miller (February 20, 2013). "PopSugar, a Web Site for Women, Gets a Makeover". bits.blogs.nytimes.com.
  10. ^ Tracy, Marc; Lee, Edmund (2019-10-07). "PopSugar Acquired by Group Nine Media in Latest Digital Media Deal". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2019-10-08.
  11. ^ Lockwood, Lisa (1 August 2013). "Eileen Carty Promoted at PopSugar". WWD. Retrieved 2 August 2013.
  12. ^ "PopSugar, Inc.: Private Company Information". Businessweek. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved 27 October 2016.