A German Publisher Is Acquiring Most of Business Insider
Axel Springer SE and Business Insider announced today the German publisher has agreed to buy out 88 percent of the New York-based business news upstart for a price of $343 million, exclusive of debt and cash. The acquisition, which values BI at $390M, ex-debt and cash, adds to Springer's existing 9 percent stake, bringing its total ownership to about 97 percent. Investor Bezos Expeditions (the personal investing firm of Jeff Bezos) hangs onto the remainder. A news release touts 76 million monthly unique visitors to Business Insider and an Axel Springer digital audience of 200 million worldwide. According to the release, the acqui makes Springer one of the six largest digital publishers globally by reach. Henry Blodget and Julie Hansen retain their leadership positions and hold a long-term equity incentive, according to the release. --Galen Moore
Beepi comes to D.C.
Beepi launched its online peer-to-peer marketplace for buying and selling cars today in the Washington D.C. metro area. The launch makes D.C. the first region in the Northeast to have dedicated Beepi staffers on the ground to aid customers, allowing area residents to buy and sell used cars online as easily. More here
Bulgarian TV star to startup entrepreneur
A graduate of the University of Maryland, Samira Sabulis has been a professional photographer, a model and a Bulgarian talk show host. Now she has parlayed all of her varied career into founding video-tagging software startup Tagazu. We talked to her to find out how she found a cirucitous route into the DC tech startup scene, and how she's always had an entrepreneurial streak.
CNN's VR Democratic debate
CNN has announced that it will show the Oct. 13 Democratic presidential debate in virtual reality. But will that really be a good idea or will it be yet another stunt that people will point to to make fun of CNN? Read more in Chris Bing's report here.
Water on Mars, are people next?
The discovery of water on Mars could greatly accelerate the timeline for manned missions to the planet. With new images from NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter supposedly spotting liquid water on the surface, there need only be a successful sample return mission before manned missions can be planned. Of course, it's not all so simple as that unfortunately. Read more about what the discovery means here.
Tech events to know this week
There are a lot of cool tech-related events in the D.C. area this week. Check them out in our calendar here.
