Food52, the content and commerce destination for those interested in cooking and food that has an active community of over 16M, has been acquired by TCG Capital Management, an affiliate of The Chernin Group, the media holding company founded by broadcast executive Peter Chernin in 2009. The exact terms of the transaction were not disclosed but TCG acquired a majority stake in the company for $83M with a total valuation exceeding $100M. A little back of the envelope math indicates that the max value of the deal is $162.75M if Chernin acquired 51% for that $83M figure.
“Our true north star is our community and our dogged belief that many is better than one,” said Merrill Stubbs, Food52 Cofounder and President. “We met our ideal partner in TCG, which shares our vision and values for building a community-driven consumer brand.”
Our true north star is our community and our dogged belief that many is better than one. We met our ideal partner in TCG, which shares our vision and values for building a community-driven consumer brand. – Merrill Stubbs
Founded by Stubbs and Amanda Hesser in 2009, Food52 had raised a total of $13.3M in reported equity funding. The company is backed investors that include Lerer Hippeau, BDMI, Vayner/RSE, Scripps Networks, Joanne Wilson, Walden Venture Capital, Zelkova Ventures, 14W, Grape Arbor VC, Vocap Investment Partners, and Scripps Networks. Stubbs and Hesser will remain on to lead the company.
“At TCG, we strive to work with founders like Amanda and Merrill who put their audience first,” said Mike Kerns, Partner at TCG. “After a decade of thoughtful content curation, product development, and community engagement, Food52 has achieved the ultimate measure of success in digital media and built a brand that consumers care deeply about. We couldn’t be more excited to partner with the team on this next phase of growth.”
At TCG, we strive to work with founders like Amanda and Merrill who put their audience first. After a decade of thoughtful content curation, product development, and community engagement, Food52 has achieved the ultimate measure of success in digital media and built a brand that consumers care deeply about. We couldn’t be more excited to partner with the team on this next phase of growth. – Mike Kerns
The Chernin Group and TCG had previously acquired Barstool Sports and Crunchyroll as well as made investment in media companies like Flipboard, Tumblr, Pandora, and Fullscreen.
