Fusion Corporate Partners

Uzabase, a Japanese business intelligence and media company listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, is to acquire Quartz, a global business news outlet created and owned by Atlantic Media. The deal values Quartz between $75 and $110 million depending on achievement of future financial and operating performance in 2018. The deal expected to close within the next 30 days.

Quartz is a guide to the new global economy for business professionals. Founded in 2012, staff numbers around 215 around the world, including around 100 journalists, with presence in New York, London, Nairobi, New Delhi, Hong Kong, and San Francisco.

Quartz Co-President and Editor in Chief Kevin J. Delaney and Co-President and Publisher Jay Lauf — will become Co-CEOs of Quartz, reporting to Uzabase and NewsPicks Founder and CEO Yusuke Umeda. Quartz Chief Revenue Officer Joy Robins and Chief Product Officer and Executive Editor Zach Seward will continue in their positions. Quartz will retain its name and brand and continue operating from its New York City headquarters.

Quartz will assume responsibility for the English-language version of NewsPicks on behalf of Uzabase. NewsPicks is a subscription business news platform and one of Uzabase’s two core businesses. The other is SPEEDA, a financial business-intelligence service.

“We created Quartz to be a new kind of news organization, pioneering better ways to serve readers with innovative news products and smart journalism from around the world. We’re proud of our accomplishments since 2012 and are really excited about this ambitious new chapter working with NewsPicks as part of Uzabase,” said Mr. Delaney.

Atlantic Media will continue to provide corporate support to Quartz through a transition period of at least 12 months following the acquisition. Atlantic Media Chairman and owner David Bradley will continue to work with the company as a senior advisor and shareholder. Bradley, with Atlantic Media President Michael Finnegan, will continue to own and operate the privately held holding company’s other businesses, National Journal Group, Government Executive Media Group, and The Atlantic. (Emerson Collective is the majority owner of The Atlantic.)

Uzabase was founded in 2008 by former investment bankers Yusuke Umeda and Ryosuke Niino, as well as Yusuke Inagaki, a former IT consultant. The company’s primary products are NewsPicks, a subscription business news platform, and SPEEDA, a B2B financial information and corporate intelligence platform.

Japan, Tokyo & USA, New York, NY