Cable and media company Cox Enterprises acquired Axios Media Inc. for $525 million Monday in a surprising move that left the media industry wondering if any independent publications had the ability or desire to remain independent moving forward.
Cox, a 60-year-old private family-run business that’s best known for its cable business, sold the majority of its media assets to Apollo Global Management in 2019, though it still owns The Atlanta Journal Constitution, the Dayton Daily News and a handful of Ohio newspapers that will continue to operate independently. Given the lack of immediately apparent complementary value for a politics-first news organization like Axios, the move has left some scratching their heads as to Axios’ utility under Cox.