Bustle Digital Group Acquires Flavorpill To Build Events Business

A week after the two companies announced a partnership to produce an experiential event together, Bustle Digital Group made it known it is acquiring Flavorpill, too.
Last week, Bustle Digital Group -- which operates Bustle, Elite Daily, Romper and The Zoe Report -- said it had its largest event to date in the works, a one-day music, culture, fashion and lifestyle event called “Rule Breakers.” 

The event is being put on in September with the help of Flavorpill. Sponsors of the event include HP Inc., 1850 by Folgers, Fossil, Visa and Sony Pictures’ film “The Girl in the Spider’s Web.”

Now, Bustle is joining a growing list of publishers committing to the experiential events business.

Teen Vogue and Refinery29 have also recently held large-scale events to draw in offline audiences and diversify revenue streams. Refinery29’s "29Rooms," for example, sold 20,000 tickets in two weeks this year, according to Axios. 

The "Teen Vogue Summit" was a three-day event with tickets ranging from $299 to $499.

The addition of Flavorpill expands Bustle Media Group’s portfolio "by developing a full-blown experiential marketing and events arm charged with producing premium large-scale events and experiences," according to the company.

Bustle will acquire all current Flavorpill Media staff. Co-founder Sascha Lewis will become Bustle Digital Group’s vice president of experiential and president of Flavorpill Media.

"To be able to align brands with consumers in real world environments that seamlessly connect to scalable digital, social and technology platforms is the next generation of marketing,” Lewis stated.

He will continue to develop and create Flavorpill Media’s marquee events, such as "Lunch Break," "Art of Yoga" and "Quiet Mornings at MoMA."

Bustle Digital Group will also obtain Flavorwire, Flavorpill’s online news and culture magazine. It will be overseen by Bustle Digital Group’s editor-in-chief, Kate Ward.


Bustle Digital Group acquired fashion and lifestyle brand The Zoe Report in April and Elite Daily from DailyMail last spring.

Bryan Goldberg, founder and CEO of Bustle Digital Group, told Axios he wants to make at least one more deal this year.

Earlier this summer, a holding company owned by Goldberg won a bankruptcy auction for Gawker.com and its assets, including the Gawker.com domain, social-media accounts and an archive of almost 200,000 articles.

Bustle claims it reaches about 50 million unique visitors per month.

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