The New York Times acquires online consumer guide The Wirecutter, founded by former Gizmodo editor-in-chief Brian Lam; sources say NYT will pay more than $30M
maybe the — way to go for journalism startups. Brian Lam / @blam : All this love, thank you! Ben French / @benfrench : The Times opened 9 jobs today for @wirecutter, including GM, design, technology and product roles: http://www.nytco.com/... The Wirecutter / @wirecutter : Hey, we're still us. But we're a part of The New York Times now: http://investors.nytco.com/... Joshua Topolsky / @joshuatopolsky : I've been away all day but this is awesome news. Very smart. Congrats @blam and crew! http://www.recode.net/... Brian Lam / @blam : @nytimes @ejacqui @ccmascari http://twitter.com/... NYTimes Bits / @nytimesbits : The New York Times has made another bet on service journalism, buying the product recommendation site The Wirecutter http://www.nytimes.com/... Sonal Chokshi / @smc90 : they've long been tracking his work it seems, remember this awesome 2012 profile of @blam? http://www.nytimes.com/... and I was wondering when Sonia Faleiro / @soniafaleiro : Obsessed with @wirecutter & now @nytimes has bought it. Match made in geek paradise. http://www.nytimes.com/... Peter Pham / @peterpham : By far my favorite site for everything I buy. If they say it's the best. I buy. @blam congratulations http://twitter.com/... Kevin C. Tofel / @kevinctofel : What an amazing (and well deserved) success story for @blam and team at @thewirecutter! http://www.recode.net/... Rafat Ali / @rafat : Very happy for Brian, very smart of NYT, better them that realize the value of independent media/reporting than any other large media co. http://twitter.com/... See also Mediagazer
Context & Ripple Effects
A month after Digg raised a Series C led by Gannett (Gannett-backed aggregation funding), the New York Times is paying more than $30M for The Wirecutter, the product-recommendation site Brian Lam built after leaving Gizmodo's top editor job. The deal lands inside NYT's broader digital push — the Beta Group experiments in apps, chatbots, and live video that followed (NYT's subscriber-luring vertical bets) — and immediately adds nine open roles across GM, design, technology, and product.
The price point matters as a benchmark: it values a lean recommendations site at a fraction of what later deals fetched for full review portfolios, from Future plc's $132.5M purchase of Purch to Blackstone's $1.3B IDG take-private.
First-order effects
- Wirecutter keeps its brand ('we're still us') but now operates under NYT ownership, hiring a GM and product leadership while its founder Brian Lam gets industry congratulations from peers like Joshua Topolsky.
- The New York Times gains an affiliate-commerce revenue engine alongside subscriptions and advertising, plus a proven team for product-review coverage.
Second-order effects
- Rival publishers see the template: within two years Future plc buys Purch (AnandTech, Tom's Hardware), and eventually Ziff Davis picks up CNET from Red Ventures — legacy owners consolidating review brands rather than building them.
- Independent consumer-tech sites become acquisition targets rather than standalone businesses, pushing founders toward selling to scaled media groups that can monetize their traffic.
Third-order effects
- Consumer product recommendation is consolidating into multi-brand portfolios owned by large publishers and private equity, with affiliate economics — not display ads — as the underlying business model.
- Editorial independence questions follow the money: when review sites sit inside commerce-driven conglomerates, the credibility that made them valuable becomes the asset those owners must protect.
The trend: Legacy publishers are buying independent product-review and recommendation sites to add affiliate-commerce revenue on top of subscriptions, turning niche review brands into consolidated media portfolios.