ArgosyMTM Online Properties

ArgosyMTM Online Properties is a division within Argosy New Media, part of ArgosyMTM Group, that manages several online brands.

History
Argosy Communications, as it was then called, acquired YTMND, an early meme site, in 2007. YTMND was given more options, including limited interactivity (using JavaScript) for “sites”, and the ability to upload videos directly (instead of combining a GIF/photo and audio, which was hard to sync), to keep it relevant and compete better with YouTube and Newgrounds. Mobile YTMND apps were released in the early 2010s.

However, the modern ArgosyMTM Online Properties only dates back to 2013, when ArgosyMTM Group acquired the Cheezburger Network. ArgosyMTM would later acquire Literally Media (owners of eBaum’s World, which ironically had a rivalry with YTMND in the mid-2000s) in 2016, absorbing the Cheezburger sites into their new acquisition; Cracked.com was later absorbed into Literally in 2019 after being acquired from Scripps.

Also in 2019, specifically August, ArgosyMTM Group purchased G/O Media from equity firm Great Hill Partners, adding former Gawker and Onion sites. However, G/O was allowed to operate autonomously, and was not merged into Literally. This caused a controversy with Deadspin (men’s-interest site) writers leaving after being forced to “stick to sports”.

In January 2020, the remains of CH Media (including CollegeHumor and Dorkly) were sold to ArgosyMTM by IAC after IAC pulled funding. Later in 2020, ClickHole was spun off from G/O Media, under a new writing team, but remained under ArgosyMTM ownership.

In May 2021, ArgosyMTM Group acquired Verizon Media (renamed as Yahoo) from Verizon, outbidding Apollo Global Management. At this point, Argosy New Media had “began to resemble a feudal kingdom”. “Project Nova” had been ongoing since 2019 to make a new CMS for the Argosy New Media sites, and was almost finished. As a result, in August of that year, it was announced in an ArgosyMTM Direct that most Argosy New Media online assets, excluding YTMND, were to be reorganized into a new unit, ArgosyMTM Online Properties, effective immediately, run by Ellen Peck herself. It was also announced that “the “stick to sports” era at Deadspin is over”, as Yahoo Sports would become the new home for sports content, returning Deadspin to a general men’s interest site.

The new CMS, Argopolis, was rolled out throughout the year, with rollout finished in October 2021. Controversially, it was decided that the licenses of G/O website names to UK and Australian franchised versions, as well as the licensing of the Yahoo brand to SoftBank in Japan, would end immediately, as AMOP wanted to start their own international versions of these sites; also, all Yahoo-branded sports betting and fantasy sites would be shut down, effective immediately, as Ellen considers them “a waste of time and money”.

A new site was also launched, Argopolis, being a “main” site compiling the “best of” its sister sites with some original content.

Other plans included repurposing the Yahoo brand as solely an email site, which means Yahoo News, Yahoo Sports, Yahoo Finance, Yahoo Entertainment, and Yahoo Life were all renamed under the MTM name. Yahoo Search was earlier renamed as a revival of AltaVista, and placed outside the AMOP unit.

In November 2021, it was announced in an ArgosyMTM Direct that ArgosyMTM Group planned to acquire Bustle Digital Group (also known as BDG Media), reuniting the Gawker brand with its former sister sites. The transaction was completed in December of that year, and rollout of Argopolis to BDG sites started later that month.

As of December 2021, ArgosyMTM was in talks to acquire BuzzFeed, which closed in January 2022, placing BuzzFeed, HuffPost, and related sites under AMOP, migrating them to the Argopolis platform in the process.