• by David Goetzl  @dgoetzl, June 24, 2010

A group led by privately held ZelnickMedia has agreed to acquire Alloy, a company that has built a portfolio of Web sites and other properties targeting millennials.

The purchase is in contrast to some of ZelnickMedia's previous investments, such as an older-skewing Time Life music arm, but could dovetail with its stake in video game purveyor Take-Two Interactive.

The deal will attempt to give ZelnickMedia a deeper foothold in digital -- and other -- opportunities aimed at the 10- to-29-year-old demo, while providing Alloy with a cash infusion as it expands. Alloy's Web sites include gURL.com, Teen.com, GossipGirl.net, as well as the more recently purchased high-school sports site Takkle.com.

Other properties include Channel One, a news network flowing into high schools, and Alloy Entertainment, which seeds potential programming such as CW's "Gossip Girl" and "Vampire Diaries," and then partners with production operations like Warner Bros.

The deal is valued at about $126.5 million for the publicly traded Alloy, with Alloy senior management joining ZelnickMedia in holding equity. Geraldine Laybourne, who led Nickelodeon and founded Oxygen, will serve as chairman of the company, while Matt Diamond, current CEO, will remain in the post.

Alloy has also assembled a digital advertising network, allowing advertisers to purchase ads across its owned sites and others where it acts as a rep firm, primarily aimed at 12- to-24-year-olds.

Alloy TV is launching several sponsored Web series this fall; one was sponsored by LG Mobile.

ZelnickMedia sold Time Life to Reader's Digest in 2007. Take-Two produces video games under the Grand Theft Auto brand and others affiliated with sports leagues, such as the NBA.

Strauss Zelnick, formerly a top executive at BMG, founded the eponymous firm in 2001. He also serves as board chairman of Take-Two.