Demand is the company that once sent shockwaves into the media business, when its super-low-cost, search-driven, content-farm model looked like the future. Then Google (NASDAQ: GOOGL) shifted the way it generated search results, and Demand fell down and never recovered.
Now Demand has shrunk down to a company that’s running a handful of content sites with declining traffic and revenue, and a smaller but growing e-commerce business. The cash sale “significantly strengthens our balance sheet, and positions us to drive profitable growth moving forward,” CEO Sean Moriarty said in a statement.
Cracked was founded in 2005, but gets to associate itself with the brand created by the Mad knockoff magazine founded in 1958. It has 40 employees, and generated $11 million U.S. in revenue last year.
E.W. Scripps, meanwhile, started out as a newspaper company in 1878, but has gotten out of that business. Now its primary revenue stream comes from a portfolio of TV stations it owns, but it is expanding into digital. Last year it bought podcasting producer/distributor Midroll for at least $50 million U.S.
Shares in Scripps took on 23 cents, or 1.5%, by midday Wednesday to $15.49 U.S., within a 52-week trading range of $14.56 to $25.02 U.S.
Demand Media is selling humor site Cracked to E.W. Scripps (NYSE: SSP) for $39 million U.S.