Stagwell has acquired a 35% stake in Real Clear Holdings LLC, publisher of the RCP Poll Averages, news publication RealClearPolitics, and 12 other news and analysis sites. Terms weren't disclosed.

The agreement was unveiled by Stagwell CEO Mark Penn at the company’s inaugural Newsfronts forum in New York City Thursday morning. 

The company said that clients would benefit from RealClear’s audience, op-ed aggregation and polling capabilities.  

The firm also said the transaction aligns with Stagwell’s longstanding work with news publications through its agencies like Code and Theory which has worked on digital projects for nearly 200 newsrooms including Bustle Digital Group, The Minnesota Star Tribune, Time, Thomson Reuters and Vogue.  

Code and Theory and other Stagwell agencies have also worked with RealClear on past projects. 

In 2023 the companies partnered on a new polling “experience” to assess political races during the 2024 election cycle.  Leading up to that cycle several Stagwell agencies helped to further commercialize the RealClearPolitics website by providing it with new advertising opportunities including a variety of custom sponsorship and programmatic advertising units as well as new email content opportunities for advertisers.    

“This investment reinforces our conviction that quality news has the power to drive meaningful business results,” Penn stated. “Championing quality news and opinion media isn’t just good for us, it's good for every business.”