Red Ventures, an owner of digital businesses, has acquired Lonely Planet, a leading global travel media company, from NC2 Media.
The companies didn’t disclose the deal terms. Skift’s “back-of-the-envelope” estimate is the deal is in the $50 million range, likely all cash. A banker Skift spoke with said that Lonely Planet was a “pretty distressed sale.”
Red said it is “remaining committed to publishing the guidebooks.” Lonely Planet has produced more than 150 million travel guidebooks since its founding in 1973.
For a while, Lonely Planet has made a push in China.
Now that Red Ventures has two travel properties, The Points Guy and Lonely Planet, some will wonder if it will seek additional opportunistic acquisitions of travel properties, which might sell at lower valuations due to the pandemic.
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