The Root, a groundbreaking web site for and about Black America, is returning to Black ownership for the primary time in years.
Ashley Allison, a Democratic political strategist and NCS commentator, stated Thursday that she is buying The Root from G/O Media, a digital media holding firm managed by a personal fairness agency.
Allison stated she plans to spend money on video content material, strike new partnerships with specialists, and launch in-person experiences for The Root’s readers.
“This isn’t about making more content but rather about making meaning of this moment,” Allison stated, a describing a precarious political time “when journalism is under attack and audiences are seeking independent sources for news.”
Allison was an official within the Obama White House and nationwide coalitions director for the Biden-Harris 2020 marketing campaign. The Root is the primary acquisition by Watering Hole Media, an organization she based final 12 months. Terms of the deal weren’t disclosed.
The Root was based in early 2008 by Harvard University professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. and Donald E. Graham, who was chairman of The Washington Post Company on the time.
“The Root will be a 21st-century version of a national black newspaper,” The Post reported on the launch.
Univision, the Spanish-language media big, acquired The Root in 2015 and assembled a portfolio of on-line manufacturers — solely to scrap that technique and promote the titles to Great Hill Partners, a personal fairness agency, in 2019.
The ensuing firm, G/O Media, couldn’t put up the type of speedy progress that traders anticipated, and it started to promote titles like Lifehacker, The Onion and Kotaku.
By final summer season, The Root was the one piece of G/O Media left, and never for lack of purchaser curiosity. G/O Media CEO Jim Spanfeller known as The Root a “very good business” and “a truly powerful and important voice in Black America” in a July essay.
Gates, who was a minority proprietor on the outset in 2008, praised Allison “for returning The Root to its roots.”
In an announcement, Allison stated the web site “has always been about preserving culture and creating clarity in a world full of distractions. Owning the power to tell our own stories is a rich tradition The Root is committed to upholding.”