Posted in: Comics, Current News | Tagged: comicbook.com, savage ventures

Paramount Sells ComicBook.com & PopCulture.com to Savage Ventures

Paramount has sold ComicBook.com and PopCulture.com websites to Savage Ventures, pitting Sam Savage back in charge.

Published Thu, 08 Aug 2024 11:15:06 -0500

Last updated Thu, 08 Aug 2024 15:30:16 -0500

Article Summary

Paramount sold ComicBook.com and PopCulture.com to Savage Ventures, bringing Sam Savage back in charge.
Savage Ventures specializes in acquiring niche sites from big media companies unsure how to manage them.
ComicBook.com has a rich history, changing ownership and growing since its inception in 1996.
No leadership changes or layoffs expected; staff will receive comparable salary and benefits from new ownership.

I learned yesterday morning that Paramount was to sell ComicBook.com and PopCulture.com websites to Savage Ventures, a company that seems to specialise in buying up niche interest sites that big media companies panic bought but now don't know what to do with. ComicBook and PopCulture join the likes of Vice, Motherboard, Outdoors, 247Health, Rare.US and AmericanSongWriter.

Sam Savage, CEO of Savage Ventures is also best known as being CEO of Womanista and for founding Outkick with conservative talkshow host Clay Travis and Jason Whitlock – though Whitlock made a sharpish exit. He was also the CEO of ComicBook.com from 2016 to 2018, so he knows the business he is buying.

Comicbook.com was a website built around a purchased URL. Owned by American Entertainment and used for their website Smash back in 1996, then for Another Universe and their Mania Magazine, before being owned by Fandom.com in 2000. In 2001 it had become Cinescape byt by 2004, it was Comicbook.com, the first time under that name, but was an unchanging holding page with some comic book related press releases and sales links on it. Then by 2010, it was owned by chairman of Magellen Press, William King, a genuine site in its own right, posting news about comics and comics-adjacent industries.

In 2018, it was purchased by CBS Interactive alongside arent company PopCulture, which is when Sam Savage stepped out as CEO. That was later shuffled around to be part of Paramount. And now, seven years after years left, it is back under the wing of Sam Savage.

The Wrap reports that no leadership changes or layoffs are expected as a result of the acquisition, according to individuals with knowledge of the situation. Site staffers will be offered comparable salary and benefit packages from the new ownership, as Paramount employee access and benefits are expected to be shut off on Friday.

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