BREAKING: Discovery, Inc. Has Acquired Golf Digest

It’s been a while since the news first broke that Condé Nast—the now-former owner of Golf Digest—was planning on selling 3 of its 14 magazines, which included the popular golf publication. Well, after several quiet months, Golf Digest finally announced this morning that the sale has finally been completed.

Discovery, Inc.—a growing media company who, in March 2018, increased its market presence by acquiring Scripps Networks Interactive, which added networks such as Food Network, HGTV, and Travel Channel—will be further supplementing its own Discovery GOLFTV, the company’s new live and on-demand video streaming service, with the acquisition of Golf Digest in an effort to reach more golfers through additional mediums.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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A post shared by Golf Digest (@golfdigest) on May 13, 2019 at 7:02am PDT

Discovery, Inc. President and CEO David Zaslav commented on the transaction, stating:

“Golf Digest is a world-class brand that has become the go-to authority for millions of golf enthusiasts, professional players and global advertisers.  It’s a natural strategic fit with Discovery’s goal to be the leading golf media platform in the world.”

Discovery clearly is making a serious push into the golf media sphere, as evidenced by the company acquiring PGA Tour rights outside the U.S. for the next 12 years (starting last June), in addition to securing rights to the European Tour, the Ladies European Tour, and The Masters in select markets.  Furthermore, Discovery has has also struck exclusive content partnerships with Tiger Woods and, more importantly, Golficity favorite Francesco Molinari.

While Discovery will certainly bring its own spin to Golf Digest, they have confirmed that the monthly print magazine will continue to be printed and provide readers with advice on technique tips, the hottest courses, and newest equipment, coupled with some culture and interview pieces.

In regards to some of the expected changes, Alex Kaplan, President and General Manager of Discovery Golf, has publicly affirmed that Discovery is heavily invested in digital content, so it’ll be very interesting to see what’s in the near future.  Indeed, Tiger Woods commented on the company’s promising future, stating:

“I couldn’t be more excited about Discovery’s acquisition of Golf Digest.  It gives Discovery and GOLFTV an amazing platform in the U.S. for me to tell my story to the fans and make my partnership with Discovery even stronger.  The power of Golf Digest and Discovery’s vision of powering people’s passions is great for the game of golf.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

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A post shared by Golf Digest (@golfdigest) on May 13, 2019 at 5:35am PDT