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Award-winning magazine and fast-growing science brand poised for growth
An investor group of super-fans has banded together as a single ownership group to acquire Nautilus, the literary science magazine with more than 10 thousand monthly paying subscribers and an online reach of more than 10 million.
The proposed acquisition is subject to receipt of all necessary regulatory and governmental approvals. The proposed deal involves implementation of an all-new digital strategy and website that will roll out over the next year. The proposed new ownership group is planning for aggressive investment in editorial, reader experience, and new products. Subscribers to the beloved print edition of Nautilus will be pleased to hear it will continue uninterrupted.
The proposed new ownership group is led by serial media entrepreneur, Daily Dot co-founder and CEO Nicholas White, who will assume the same title at Nautilus.
“Nautilus is the best and brightest science brand I know,” said White. “It’s also a love letter to the intersection of science, art, and culture. It will be an honor and privilege to help steward our team and mission. The editorial operation at Nautilus is world class and will remain so. Our proposed plan will put the right growth team in place, which will allow us to deliver Nautilus to the wide audience it so clearly deserves.”
Nautilus is a “different kind of science magazine” per the company’s website. It delivers deep, undiluted, narrative storytelling that “brings science into the largest and most important conversations we are having today.”
White is joined in the proposed new ownership group by:
- Ben Lamm, CEO of Hypergiant Industries, serial entrepreneur, and investor
- Larry Summers, 71st Secretary of the Treasury, former Chief Economist of the World Bank, Charles W. Eliot University Professor and President Emeritus, Harvard University
- Alexander Falk, co-founder and CEO Altova and prominent angel investor
- Josh Jones-Dilworth, entrepreneur and investor, joined by his science-focused marketing and communications consultancy, JDI
- Elisa New, Director of Poetry in America and the Powell M. Cabot Professor of American Literature at Harvard University
- Drew Hamlin, Software Designer
- Fraser Howie, Author
John Steele will remain as Nautilus’ Publisher and Editorial Director. Kevin Berger will take the helm as Editor-in-Chief and Michael Segal will be Editor-at-Large.
Notable contributors to Nautilus have included: Scott Aaronson, Amanda Gefter, Martin Rees, Lisa Randall, Robert Sapolsky, Hope Jahren, Nicholas Carr, Sylvia Earl, Carl Zimmer, B.J. Novak, Alan Lightman, and Cormac McCarthy.
“The proposed deal gives Nautilus the resources it needs to continue to support the same kind of vibrant, original writing and reporting that has differentiated it from the very beginning,” said Steele. “Like our staff, contributors, partners and advisors, our new ownership group will be in it for the long haul, and for all the right reasons. Together we will work even harder to expand the public’s knowledge and understanding of fundamental questions of scientific inquiry, as well as their connection to human culture.”
Founded in 2013, Nautilus was the first magazine ever to win two National Magazine Awards in its first year of eligibility. It also won the Webby for best science website, two AAAS Kavli Science Journalism Awards, was named one of the World’s Best-Designed news sites by the Society for News Design, and has enjoyed dozens of other honors.
“Science needs all of the love it can get. It deserves everything we have to give,” said Jones-Dilworth. “We want everyone to understand the fundamental scientific questions of our day, and appreciate how advances both large and small positively impact daily life. All of us in the proposed ownership group share this drive. Nautilus is essential today. If you’re not already a subscriber, you really need to be.”
Nautilus is currently a project of NautilusThink, a New York not-for-profit corporation, which will continue to run programs to advance interest in the sciences following the proposed acquisition.
In conjunction with the proposed acquisition, Nautilus also published a public letter titled “Science Matters.”
The letter is a public commitment by the Nautilus team, its staff, advisors, and its contributors; leading thinkers, researchers, teachers, and businesspeople; and the public at large to tirelessly advance the cause of science in America and around the world.
Anyone and everyone is encouraged to read the letter, add their name, and share it with their community at: https://nautil.us/celebrating-science-co_sign-the-letter-8549/
About Nautilus
Nautilus is science, connected. Online, in print and in the classroom, Nautilus challenges the reader to consider the deep, mysterious connecting tissue that runs through the sciences and connects them to philosophy, culture, and art. It reminds us that we are all interested in the same narratives as human beings: Who are we, what is the world we find ourselves in, and where does meaning come from? Nautilus make subtexts, hidden meanings, and fundamental truths shine through narrative that challenges the usual boundaries in science media and education.
Nautilus lets science spill over its usual borders. Learn more at https://nautil.us
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