The owner of Condé Nast has offered to buy SportTechie Inc., which publishes a newsletter covering the intersection of sports and technology and filed for bankruptcy yesterday to execute the sale and eliminate debt, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. The proposed sale would expand the reach of Advance Publications Inc. subsidiary Leaders Group Holdings LLC and its collection of athletics-focused publications, including Sports Business Journal and Leaders, which hosts conferences and provides news and information to sports executives, according to its website. Leaders Group Chief Executive Warren Thune said the company intends to integrate SportTechie’s newsletter and calendar of in-person and virtual events into its business, bolstering the breadth of its coverage and value to its subscribers. SportTechie was founded as a blog in 2012 and now has more than 35,000 newsletter subscribers—about 500 of which are paid subscribers—and hosts sports industry conferences, according to papers filed in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Del. The media company also hosts conferences and live events that were switched to virtual gatherings during the pandemic, SportTechie co-founder and CEO Taylor Bloom said in a sworn declaration filed with the court. Leaders Group lent SportTechie money before the bankruptcy filing and has also agreed to provide about $1.1 million to fund the chapter 11, according to court papers. Under the deal, which requires court approval, Leaders Group would use its debt claims as currency to acquire SportTechie’s assets through a credit bid.
