The media giant ‘The New York Times’ plans to purchase a sports news website ‘The Athletic’ for roughly $550 million to grow their portfolio. The acquisition is likely to finalize in the first quarter of this year, according to Forbes.

The Athletic’s founders, Alex Mather and Adam Hansmann will stay on, according to the Times, and the site will continue to function independently while under the roof of the newspaper.

According to Axios, ‘The Athletic’ is a subscription-based sports news website that was created in 2016 and covers big and local teams in 47 different areas across the US, UK, and Canada. It employs about 600 people.

The Information was the first to report on the deal, which will assist the New York Times to meet its target of 10 million subscribers by 2025: The Athletic has 1.2 million subscribers, while the paper has 8.3 million.

According to The Information, the sports website is not expected to make a profit until 2023, despite the fact that it produced $47 million in revenue and spent $41 million in 2020.

According to The Information, The Athletic had been hunting for a buyer for months and was seeking a $750 million valuation, despite Bloomberg and Axios valuing it at $500 million in 2020.

“Ultimately, The Athletic helps further our vision of making The New York Times the essential subscription for every person seeking to understand and engage with the world,” said Meredith Kopit Levien, president and CEO of the New York Times Company.