Paramount to Buy The Free Press // $100M+ Reported Purchase Price & Valuation Analysis
September 12, 2025 by Chris Erwin
RockWater Roundup
M&A analysis of the creator economy to make you a better operator and investor.
Today we discuss Paramount’s potential acquisition of Bari Weiss’ The Free Press, a digital news media company. We analyze deal rumors, strategic rationale, valuation multiples, Paramount’s bold deal making, and how traditional news media is broken.
Let’s break it down…
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–SELLER: The Free Press–
Overview
- Digital news media company
- Newsletter and media platform built on Substack
- Offers independent perspectives that challenge widely accepted media narratives
- Founded in 2020 by Bari Weiss (rebranded in 2022)
- 65 employees per LinkedIn
- Based in NY and LA
Founding Story
- Weiss ran opinion section at The New York Times from 2017-2020
- Weiss pushed to broaden Times’ viewpoints, often challenging dominant narratives
- Resigned in 2020 citing workplace hostility and lack of ideological diversity
- That same year launched The Free Press, originally known as Common Sense, to promote more open debate
- Expanded from a personal newsletter into a full-scale media startup with an editorial team
- Rebranded as The Free Press in 2022 to reflect a broader mission and audience
- Shifted editorial focus to investigative reporting, opinion columns, and culturally relevant stories outside mainstream news
Company Highlights
- 155,000+ paying subscribers
- $10-15M est annual subscription revenue
- Top newsletter on Substack by revenue
- 750,000+ subscribers across Substack and YouTube
Service Offerings / Business Model
- For Subscribers…
- Daily newsletter with investigative reporting and commentary distributed primarily via Substack
- Podcast content through “Honestly with Bari Weiss” available on major streaming platforms
- Live debate events and community discussions to foster engaged audience interaction
- Exclusive interviews and documentary content expanding the brand beyond written journalism
- Active social media presence on Twitter / X, IG, and FB to drive audience engagement and content sharing
- Business Model
- $75 annual subscription to access all content and events
- Revenue diversification through podcasts, live events, exclusive member content, and branded merchandise
- Social media used strategically to build awareness, grow subscriber base, and amplify original reporting
Capital Markets History
- Sep ‘25: In acquisition talks with Paramount
- Sep ‘24: Raised $15M Series A funding round ($100M valuation)
- 2022: Raised $1-5M from angels like Marc Andreesen, David Sacks, former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz, others
–BUYER: Paramount–
Overview
- Media conglomerate w/ broadcast, cable, studio, and streaming properties
- Recently completed $8B merger with Skydance Media
- David Ellison serves as Chairman and CEO, Jeff Shell as President
- Based in LA (just moved HQ from NY) with offices in NY, London, Madrid, Singapore, and Sydney
- 4.8k+ employees per LinkedIn
Company Highlights
- 77M+ Paramount+ global subscribers
- 3.9M+ CBS Evening News viewers
- Paramount+ watch time per user up 17% YoY
Financials
- LTM Revenue: $29B
- Down 1.7% YoY
- LTM EBITDA: $2.5B
- Down 12% YoY
- EBITDA Margin: 9%
Major Licensing Deals & Partnerships
- Skydance Media merger blending Paramount’s creative library and distribution with Skydance’s production expertise to drive streaming growth and global content expansion ($8.4B, Aug. 2025)
- Activision/Call of Duty multi-year film and content deal to integrate gaming IP with feature films to capture male youth and gamer demographics ($100M+, Aug. 2025)
- South Park streaming exclusive release on Paramount+, adding a top-performing adult animation series (Undisclosed, Jul. 2025)
- UFC Partnership to gain streaming rights on Paramount+ to support youth and male audience targeting and enhancing live sports segment ($7.7B+, Aug. 2025)
- Duffer Brothers Collaborative Projects partnership to develop new series and film projects for Paramount+, including offerings in the sci-fi and horror genres (Undisclosed, Aug. 2025)
Service Offerings
- Overall…
- Reorganized into three core divisions: TV Media, Direct-to-Consumer, and Studios
- Strategic focus on “tech-forward company blending Hollywood creativity with Silicon Valley innovation” under new leadership
- TV Media (65% of 2024 revenue)
- CBS Network and 29+ owned stations
- Cable networks: Nickelodeon, MTV, Comedy Central, BET, Paramount Network
- International networks: Network 10, Channel 5, Telefe
- CBS Studios production and syndication
- D2C (26% of 2024 revenue)
- Paramount+ streaming service (77M+ subscribers)
- Pluto TV free streaming platform
- BET+ subscription service
- Studios (10% of 2024 revenue)
- Paramount Pictures theatrical films
- Paramount Animation and Nickelodeon Studios
- Content licensing and distribution
Capital Markets History
- Sep ‘25: In acquisition talks with The Free Press
- Aug ‘25: Merger with Skydance
- Financed by KKR and Redbird Capital Partners, combined company valued at $26.7B, new public co stock price of $15.48
- May ‘22: Berkshire Hathaway acquired 10.6% stake for $2.6B
–DEAL DETAILS–
Overview
- Trade rumors started Sep 2025
- $100M+ purchase price, mix of cash / stock (per trade reports)
- Est $150M+ if Bari Weiss stays long-term (per trade reports)
- Deal talks started a year ago, incl time at Allen & Co conference in July
Strategic Rationale
- Weiss expected to guide CBS News editorial strategy toward more conservative viewpoints. Would align with Paramount’s growing programming slate targeted at male-oriented and Middle America (midwest and southern US) audiences
- Leverage Free Press’ engaged, paying subscribers to build CBS News’ digital and streaming audiences, and attract younger, loyal viewers
- Integrate Weiss’ opinion shows and columns into CBS News and Paramount+ programming to diversify content
- Help mitigate bias concerns from FCC that arose during Skydance merger talks, which led to CBS News hiring an “ombudsman” — an FCC condition aimed at addressing bias complaints
Post-Deal Operations
- Weiss expected to receive a senior editorial role at CBS News. Would play major role in steering editorial coverage of network
- Unclear if Weiss would report to CBS News president Tom Cibrowski
- The Free Press likely to maintain some operational independence
- Integration with CBS News programming and Paramount+ streaming content
–WHAT ELSE I FIND INTERESTING–
- $100M+ purchase price rumors; implied valuation multiples are HIGH.
- The trades report the deal is valued at $100M+, in a mix of cash and stock. Further, if Bari Weiss ends up with a long term commitment to Paramount, the deal could reach $150M.
- The trades also report that revenue of The Free Press is around $15M. Industry insiders, who also operate in the same conservative news media ecosystem, also validate this revenue threshold (their estimated range is $10-20M), and also that the company is unlikely profitable.
- So let’s use those figures to establish the valuation range for this deal.
- Assume $15M revenue and a $100M enterprise value, that’s a 6.7x revenue multiple. At a $150M EV, that’s a 10x revenue multiple.
- Based on market precedent, this is a VERY HIGH valuation range
- Of note, most media deals are done as a multiple of EBITDA, and for digital media, we typically see the valuation range as 5-15x EBITDA, based on a variety of factors relating to financial performance, IP quality, audience size, distribution footprint, and team quality.
- I think a relevant comp here is Fox’s acquisition of Red Seat Ventures (our deal analysis). The deal terms weren’t disclosed, but RSV was highly profitable, addressed an existential crisis for Fox’s news media business, got a premium valuation, and the valuation methodology was based on media M&A precedent.
- Of note, the RSV business model is an agency model, as it helps its clients build D2C media businesses. So its not a perfect comp, but deal dynamics were similar i.e. traditional media buyer facing generational disruption, needs to find a new way to work with news media personalities and reach modern audiences.
- Back to valuation…the implied multiple feels quite frothy. It’s actually above what social and influencer SaaS companies are trading at, which is typically 4-7x LTM net revenue (see our deal analysis of group.one buying Social Pilot).
- This deal therefore falls into the bucket of Paramount’s bold dealmaking I discuss below, which has other strategy considerations.
- It also makes me think about how to best characterize the deal – it’s not just a media co acquisition at an unprecedented valuation. Instead, a key component of the acquisition talks is a major talent / employment deal, in locking up Bari Weiss to be a leader of the Paramount news team for years to come. This makes me think the deal reflects a new iteration of the massive Showrunner deals by Netflix with creators like Shonda Rhymes, Ryan Murphy, and the Duffer Brothers when we were in the midst of the streaming wars back between 2018 – 2021. The emerging streamers were in an arms race to develop and acquire as much content as possible in a land-grab race for modern streaming audiences (check out our extensive analysis of the streaming wars).
- I therefore think we’re entering a new era of the streaming wars, and what’s kicking off in 2025 is a specific focus on traditional media wanting to revamp their legacy news media models, which is a mainstay (and cash cow) of the traditional TV networks.
- Overall, the modern digital news media ecosystem is a major growth market (I expand on this below). I’m therefore curious to see new business models emerge, and the dealmaking that’s going to fuel what the modern landscape will look like.
- NOTE: Reminder that I’m speculating on all valuation analyses here, as the deal hasn’t been formally announced, and we have no confirmation of any deal details.
- Paramount is quickly making BIG moves to establish its new content identity, and compete in the modern media era.
- Paramount seeks to define its new content identity and audience focus for competitive differentiation VS peer streamers and media networks.
- This is particularly important for driving Paramount+ subscriber growth and retention, which is a new battleground for the evolving traditional media co’s (though there’s debate if these traditional media co’s should have focused on being content mercenaries, and selling content to the Netflixes of the world VS trying to compete directly, a strategy Sony seems to have done).
- As a result, Paramount CEO Ellison is quickly executing bold media deals and licensing partnerships to not only establish Paramount’s new content identity, but also attract and excite other potential partnerships.
- This includes all the deals we listed above, from the recent $7.7B UFC licensing partnership and the multi-year film and content deal with Call of Duty’s gaming IP, to recruiting the Duffer Brothers away from Netflix, re-upping of the South Park relationship, and continued partnership with prolific producer Taylor Sheridan (Yellowstone, Tulsa King, Landman, 1923).
- And now the dealmaking might include the potential acquisition of The Free Press and hiring of Bari Weiss in a major editorial role.
- These moves clearly say to the market and all content makers “we’re open for business”.
- And, in looking at the audiences of the above media and IP portfolio, the dealmaking signals that Paramount seeks to establish a stronghold in targeting conservative-leaning, male-oriented audiences in the midwest and southern US, aka Middle America.
- The media market is taking note.
- Overall, all of this feels like the right vision and energy to kick off the new combined media co, but…at the end of the day, the company needs to make money. And these deals comprise A LOT of capital being thrown around, at frothy valuations, in an environment that is highly competitive, and where the future of media business models are fundamentally different VS what Paramount has a current expertise in.
- That means there’s much uncertainty for how all this is going to shake out. But it’ll be fun to track along the way, and learn from what works here VS doesn’t.
- Traditional news media is broken. New digital-native journalists are on the rise, creating a major opportunity in the modern media landscape.
- We wrote about this in our analysis of Entertainment360 buying OManagement, a boutique news and personality talent management firm (our deal analysis). Our analysis from last month is very relevant to today’s deal, so copying here for reference..
- “More and more journalists are leaving TV networks, publishers, and newspapers to build their own D2C media businesses. They’re starting their own newsletters on Substack, YouTube channels, TikTok feeds, and podcasts. In turn, they’re becoming their own brands as traditional media fragments.
- There are many examples here – Ben Smith left BuzzFeed News and co-founded Semafor, a global digital news platform; Matt Yglesias left Vox to start “Slow Boring” newsletter; Casey Newton left the Verge to start “Platformer” newsletter; Taylor Lorenz left the Washington Post to launch independent tech / culture reporting on Substack and TikTok…the list goes on [and now adding Bari Weiss, who left the NY Times to start The Free Press on Substack!]. This is becoming big business, and traditional media is starting to re-think their news and talent business models – specifically, the departure of top political and news personalities from Fox (e.g. Tucker Carlson, Megyn Kelly), was one of the key drivers behind the landmark Fox’s acquisition of Red Seat Ventures in Jan 2025 (our deal analysis).
- During COVID, John Krasinski’s Some Good News on YouTube showed how news fans seek alternative news media formats to traditional news fare. Today, we’re increasingly seeing audiences, across all ages and not just youths, migrate to modern social and podcast-native alternative news formats. I think of All In Podcast, where 4 “besties” from Silicon Valley cover a range of topics from finance to politics to luxury lifestyle (and recently launched a premium Tequila brand), to YouTuber Tim Pool’s livestreaming news media network, and on-the-ground real-time war coverage on TikTok in Ukraine.
- Our takeaway from all this is that there’s a massive opportunity in the evolving news media ecosystem. From building modern news networks (further building on top of early social news networks like The Young Turks and NowThis), to those companies building support services for these new digital and D2C journalists, like ad sales and talent management.
- Case in point, we’re hearing a lot more from talent rep insiders that they’re focusing on signing fast-growing talent news personalities. Some of these firms have already built meaningful news talent divisions (keeping them anonymous per their request). We’re therefore not surprised by this OManagement deal, and we expect to start seeing a lot more activity in this space. Personally, I’d love to see a modern news media and talent rep outfit represent personalities on both sides of the political aisle here in the US – I haven’t seen anyone crack that code yet, but there’d be fun innovation in content formats, would set a great new precedent for productive political discourse and talent collaborations, and would probably generate great business ROI 😉”
- UPDATE as of 9.11.25 – With Fox buying RSV in January, and assuming Paramount closes on the acquisition of The Free Press, makes me wonder when other traditional news media businesses are going to start making creator-based investments to power their modern news media strategies. The RSV deal was a different flavor (D2C and agency services for various of conservative-leaning talent), and the Free Press Deal is an acquisition of a media company (incl their writer and contributor network) coupled with a large employment deal for a top talent in Bari Weiss.
- Which of these is the best strategy? I lean towards the RSV model – a scalable agency services platform to add many more talent and media channels, with lower revenue concentration and talent flight risk, and not as reliant on a singular 3rd party platform like the TFP has with Substack.
- Further, what might the next flavor of a modern news media deal look like?
- These are questions we should all be asking.
- A note on Charlie Kirk…
- With all the above talk about modern news media, we must mention the tragic news about the assisination of Charlie Kirk this past Wednesday. Regardless of political or ideological differences, violence has no place in democratic debate. Freedom of speech, and peaceful public discourse, is how we progress as a society. May this tragedy remind us of the importance of these great American values, and in turn better unite us all.
I’m the founder of RockWater Industries. We do M&A and strategy advisory for creator economy and digital agencies. From buy / sell-side M&A and fundraising, to consumer research and go-to-market planning.
DM me on LinkedIn or email me chris@wearerockwater.com
