Apple buys the "Netflix of magazine publishing" for an undisclosed amount

Known as "the Netflix of magazine publishing," the app named Texture has been acquired by Apple for an undisclosed amount. Texture offers subscribers the ability to select from approximately 200 magazines to read, for the price of $9.99 a month (following a seven-day free trial). Apple is purchasing the entire company, employees and all. Whether this includes a foosball table and some big comfy bean bag chairs, we haven't a clue.

Apple will reportedly leave Texture untouched, allowing the app to continue to be offered for iOS, Android, Amazon Kindle Fire and Windows 8 and 10. And while the deal is expected to close shortly, it is typical for Apple not to reveal the cost of an acquisition. Texture is a private company and thus has no publicly traded stock. Additionally, there are no public reports dealing with its valuation. The company has raised $90 million in capital made up of $40 million from owners Condé Nast, Hearst, Meredith, News Corp., Rogers Communications, and Time Inc. The remaining $50 million was put up by private equity fund KKR along with BuzzFeed, Vox Media and Imgur.


Texture has not recently revealed the number of subscribers it has. Back in 2016, a story in the New York Post said that according to Texture CEO John Loughlin, the company grossed $20 million in 2015, up 50%. The executive added that he expected another 50% gain during 2017. He also said at the time of the story, that Texture had "hundreds of thousands" of paying customers.

source: TechCrunch