Puck closed its acquisition of Air Mail on Thursday in a cash and stock deal that will see founding editor Graydon Carter exit as deputy managing editor Julia Vitale takes the reins, TheWrap has learned.
The deal is valued at $16 million, according to reporting from The New York Times. TheWrap previously reported that Carter, 76, intends to enter a consulting contract as part of the acquisition before retiring.
“Air Mail was always envisioned as the weekend edition to a digital daily news engine. And in Puck we have the perfect alignment,” Carter said in a statement. “Sharp, crisp reporting on their end and international coverage of politics, the arts, and interesting scandals on ours. We feel that with Jon Kelly and Sarah Personette, we have ideal partners. And I have complete confidence in Julia Vitale, my colleague of 10 years, who will be taking the reins of Air Mail. There truly is none better.”
Carter co-founded Air Mail, a subscription-based newsletter, with New York Times journalist Alessandra Stanley in 2019 after stepping down from his role at Vanity Fair in 2017. The digital weekly covers a variety of subjects, ranging from politics, art, environment and more, according to its website. It released its first issue on July 20 with Carter and Stanley serving the platform as co-editors.
The acquisition passes the baton from the storied Vanity Fair editor-in-chief to his former staffer and mentee, Jon Kelly, who co-founded Puck in 2021. Puck and Air Mail share investors with private equity firm TPG and Standard Investments, which is under Standard Industries.
Since its launch, Puck has raised more than $17 million and, as of last year, had 40,000 paying subscribers, according to the Wall Street Journal. Air Mail had raised $32 million since its launch, according to a New York Times report from last year, and Carter’s newsletter had amassed 500,000 subscribers.
“We’re beyond thrilled to welcome Air Mail to Puck,” Kelly said in a statement. “Graydon Carter is a titan and trailblazer of our industry and his decades of experience and success — inventing Spy, reinventing The New York Observer and his heralded quarter century transformation of Vanity Fair into a cultural institution — has shaped Air Mail’s inimitable voice and look. As I know well from experience, Graydon’s greatest talent has been as a mentor and teacher and he has elevated an extraordinarily talented new generation of leaders at Air Mail — starting with its brilliant new editor Julia Vitale.”
Puck CEO Sarah Personette said that the Air Mail acquisition brings “two of the most valuable audiences across decision makers, business leaders, tastemakers and cultural authorities into one powerful community.”
“For our subscribers, this means even more access to world class journalism spanning the sharp insider reporting they count on from Puck and the elegant cultural storytelling they love from Air Mail,” she said. “This combination is about amplifying what makes both brands special and delivering even greater value to our readers.”
