Red Ventures, a media company that owns brands such as The Points Guy, CNET and Bankrate, has acquired Lonely Planet from NC2 Media. The amount of the transaction has not been disclosed.
Founded in 1973, Lonely Planet has been known primarily for its travel guidebooks, with more than 150 million in print in 14 languages, as well as online content, videos, magazines and more.
Red Ventures says it intends to "propel Lonely Planet into the digital era while remaining committed to publishing the guidebooks that have made Lonely Planet the iconic brand it is today."
"While the travel industry is experiencing an unprecedented downturn, we believe it will come back stronger than ever, and no brand represents the magic of the modern explorer better than Lonely Planet," says Ric Elias, Red Ventures co-founder and CEO.
"By joining our travel portfolio, Lonely Planet positions us to revolutionize the consumer journey for travelers, helping more people discover and decide where they'll go, how they'll get there and what to do when they arrive."
Red Ventures says the combination of its proprietary data platform and channel expertise with Lonely Planet's existing content will create "end-to-end experiences" to help travelers plan and book trips.
Lonely Planet CEO Luis Cabrera, who joined the company in early 2019, is not staying with the company. Instead he will remain with NC2 Media, but Lonely Planet's other leadership and staff based around the world will now become Red Ventures' employees.
In June Lonely Planet announced a partnership with Culture Trip to provide advertising and analytics. And in February Lonely Planet launched an API to make it easier for destination marketing organizations, travel brands and other companies to access its content for use on their websites and other digital platforms.
In 2019, Lonely Planet acquired ArrivalGuides to expand its B2B strategy as well as TRILL Travel to make visual content bookable.
Source: PhocusWire