• by Sara Guaglione , February 4, 2020

Dotdash, the IAC-owned publisher that was formerly About.com, has acquired two new sites: TreeHugger and Mother Nature Network.

The digital publishers will be added to Dotdash’s portfolio to create “a powerful platform to embrace the sustainability and eco-friendly content space," according to the company.

Terms of the deal, which closed yesterday, were not disclosed. 

Mother Nature Network publishes sustainability, environmental and responsible living content, while TreeHugger is dedicated to making sustainability more mainstream. They were both owned by the Narrative Content Group.

The sites pull in about 1.5 million monthly unique visitors combined.

Dotdash says it will keep all editorial staff from each of the two businesses, about 10 employees total. 

Joel Babbit, CEO of Narrative Content Group, and the rest of the leadership team will remain with Narrative Content Group.

"Sustainability touches nearly all of our categories — from food and home to health and wellness — and these world-class brands will allow us to engage our audience on these important topics," stated Neil Vogel, CEO of Dotdash.

Dotdash has grown its audience to over 96 million monthly users, according to comScore December 2019 data.

The media company made four acquisitions last year; its latest was in October, when it bought Liquor.com. Last May, Dotdash purchased Brides, the wedding-focused magazine turned digital-only publisher previously owned by Condé Nast.

IAC Publishing split up its flagship brand About.com in 2016 to build out topic-specific verticals from its more popular sections; it renamed the parent company Dotdash.

Dotdash now owns sites dedicated to women’s lifestyle, health and wellness, personal finance, home decor and beauty, including Verywell, The Balance, Lifewire, Investopedia, The Spruce, ThoughtCo, Byrdie and MyDomaine.