"Axios has signed a deal to sell to its most recent lead investor, Cox Enterprises, the companies announced Monday," the online news outlet reported. "The cash deal values the company at $525 million, according to sources familiar with the deal."
The deal is structured to maintain and increase the company’s flow of investment to finance the covering of local news across the United States at a time when other national news organizations and funders have cut down financing for such coverage, the report said.
"A big part of this investment is to expand the number of local markets we serve. Local watchdog journalism is so important to the health of any community, and no one is more focused on building that out nationally than Axios," Cox Chairman and CEO Alex Taylor said in the report.
The deal, which was signed Sunday, will enable Axios to expand across its local, national and subscription news products, the report also said.
At present, Axios operates in 24 cities in the United States and now plans to expand coverage to 30 cities by the end of 2022 and eventually penetrate the markets of hundreds of cities, the report added.