• by Ray Schultz , October 1, 2021

Digital publisher Industry Dive has acquired the Ladders News daily newsletter, a product with roughly 2.2 million active subscribers, from Ladders Inc. Terms were not disclosed. 

The Ladders daily will cease publication after Oct. 15, and readers will receive specialized newsletters from Industry Dive, based on their career goals and interests. These include BioPharma Dive, CFO Dive, CIO Dive, Construction Dirve, HR Dive and Marketing Dive. 

Ladders Inc. will focus on providing job search services professionals at the six-figure salary level. 

The purchase makes sense, industry observers say. 

It is “a “smart move by Industry Dive, continuing expansion with the newsletter format which is hot right now,” says Patrick O’Leary, founder-CEO of CRM publisher Boostr.

“Specialty publishers, especially with niche, high value audiences, should be able to command a premium to reach them across media. In our 2021 MAST Report, publishers able to combine multiple products on a single buy had the highest growth rates so congrats and smart move Industry Dive,” said O'Leary.

“Over the course of the past few years, no trend in digital is more powerful than the re-emergence of email, says Kerel Cooper, CMO at email marketing platform LiveIntent. “In the long-term, the industry realizes it's the key to Identity in a mobile-first world. In the short-term, it represents a logged-in channel outside the walled gardens that's measurable, targetable and performs.” 

Cooper adds: “Industry Dive is a pioneer, leaning in to a B2B newsletter approach. Their strategy is built on the back of continually churning out content that's valuable enough to get B2B readers to opt-in.” 

With the Ladders members coming on board, “more than 13 million business leaders and professionals will rely on our newsletters for exclusive industry reporting and analysis," states Davide Savenije, editor-in-chief of Industry Dive.

Ladders Inc. was founded roughly 18 years ago. Founder-CEO Marc Cenedella, a senior vice president at Hotjobs.com, who had steered the sale of that firm to Yahoo, devised the idea of connecting recruiters and the upper end of the workforce.  

En route, Cenedella realized high-level job seekers need information beyond postings. So Ladders started offering robust content, all geared to helping high earners manage their careers and lives.  

The sale will allow Ladders Inc. to “focus more on our core products, such as Apply4Me, the online service that applies to jobs for you with just one click,” Cenedella states.