CNN commentator and Democratic political strategist Ashley Allison announced on Thursday that she is acquiring The Root, a publication focused on Black people and culture, from G/O Media, marking the end of the digital media company that once owned the likes of The Onion and Gizmodo.
The purchase returns the outlet to Black ownership for the first time in a decade. Allison, a former Obama White House official and Biden-Harris campaign adviser, told CNN she was purchasing the brand through her company, Watering Hole Media, with plans to focus on video content and in-person experiences for The Root’s audience.
“This isn’t about making more content but rather about making meaning of this moment,” Allison told CNN, noting this is a time “when journalism is under attack and audiences are seeking independent sources for news.”
Watering Hole Media did not immediately respond to TheWrap’s request for comment. This marks the social impact media project’s first acquisition since Allison founded it last year.
The Root was founded in 2008 by author Henry Louis Gates Jr. and Donald Graham, whose family owned the Washington Post at the time. It was then sold to Univision in 2015 before being offloaded to private equity firm Great Hill Partners in 2019.
G/O Media CEO Jim Spanfeller wrote in July that The Root was “a very good business” that he remained committed to selling, describing it as a “truly powerful and important voice in Black America.”
Still, The Root is one of several G/O Media outlets that squabbled with company and editorial leadership before eventually being acquired. Root staffers launched multiple labor disputes with its editor in chief, Tatsha Robertson, in 2023 over creating a “toxic and hostile work environment,” leading G/O Media to retaliate with its own unfair labor practice charge with the National Labor Relations Board. The two sides eventually dropped their most egregious charges.
Allison said in a statement to CNN that The Root “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.”
