Four and a half years ago, Molly McAleer, BC ’06, launched a culture website for young women with actress Zooey Deschanel and producer Sophia Rivka Rossi. The site has been sold to Time, Inc., though the terms of the deal were not disclosed. According to the Wall Street Journal, one person familiar with the purchase said it was valued at about $20 million.
Seventeen million distinct people view HelloGiggles each month—three out of four of whom are women under age 35. One thousand paid contributors generate content for the site, which has 22 employees. Time also owns Entertainment Weekly and Sports Illustrated, along with other national media sources.
The website is divided into topics—news, culture, friends, work, love, style—and its founders’ goal was to create a positive space for young women. The partnership with Time will allow them to expand into video, according to the Los Angeles Times. In a statement, Deschanel said that the purchase makes it possible to inspire and support more young women.
“We just felt like in order to be in the place our contributors wanted to go, we should partner,” Rossi said to the Los Angeles Times. “We’re excited to use the [intellectual property] of our contributors and expand into TV, online video, and film.”
Featured Image courtesy of The Wall Street Journal
