If you haven’t heard of this, TechCrunch will have a shiny new home. After years of support from Yahoo’s ownership (in turn, Apollo Group), the brand is now in fresh hands. IT’s new parent company: Regent, a dynamic private equity firm with a diverse portfolio spanning media, retail and manufacturing industries. Regent was founded 12 years ago by Michael Reinstein, a personable one-time entrepreneur who quickly realized that his future as a PE executive could be better and had an undeniable passion for TechCrunch.
While the financial terms are still not disclosed, it is clear: The Regent is getting the iconic brand. TechCrunch is more than just a technical news website; it is the most influential voice in Silicon Valley and beyond. Having received special ads in TechCrunch for a long time has been a prevailing ceremony for startups, but our mission is far beyond the scope of industry insiders who make up our core readership. Our goal is to absolutely get everyone to take the front seats of the future of technology. Whether you are a founder, an investor, or someone who is curious about how technology can reshape the world, we will help you by reporting news and then putting that together to give you a bigger picture.
The best part: The structure of this deal is to ensure minimal disruption to the operations of TechCrunch. You can almost think of it as a software update rather than a system overhaul. In San Francisco and New York, we will be entering the new offices that the Regent rents. (Goodbye, Financial District; Hello, Soma!), Yahoo has not completely disconnected – it has little interest in the company. (What can we say? It’s hard to let go of TechCrunch.) Related to me, I’m grateful to Yahoo CEO Jim Lanzone, who has been an incredible mentor and voice board for which I’m grateful for.
But it really matters: The team of expert journalists you know and trust will continue to bring you must-read stories in the tech world. It’s undoubtedly the strongest TechCrunch team we have ever had and over the years we’ve been lucky enough to work with some amazing talent.
TechCrunch has been at the heart of Silicon Valley since Michael Arrington and Keith Teare were founded in 2005. With the ongoing support of our readers and advertisers, we have covered every major technology trend, every billionaire fight, and a significant change in every industry. And we’re just starting out. Many of the founders and executives we wrote over the years are now shaping Washington’s policies, and we’ll be there to report on what’s going to happen next.
Yahoo decided to sell TechCrunch because ultimately, our DNA was completely different from the other product portfolios. Although Yahoo Sports, Yahoo News and Yahoo Finance have performed well in aggregation, TechCrunch has been involved in original reporting and news analysis. The timing of sales is also very meaningful. Despite many challenges in the press, from AI-generated digests to Twitter’s evolution to X, TechCrunch has been reversing this trend over the past year, thus steadily re-growing its readership. Our Secret? We put readers first, provide essential news without bias, and showcase the wild, often ridiculous human aspect of the technology world.
As close followers of TechCrunch already know, this is not our first rodeo in terms of new ownership (we all still have AOL and Verizon swag). But the most important thing in this transition is to ensure that our team retains freedom and support to do our best. With the Regent, that’s what we do.
So, to Yahoo, thank you for standing by us during the tough times. For Regent, we love your passion for what we do and we are excited to join you in the next chapter. Now let’s do this.
