Ben Popken, editor of The Consumerist has a new boss and a new (and improved) salary to go along with it.
According to The New York Times, Consumers Union, the nonprofit publisher of Consumer Reports magazine is buying the site from Gawker Media.
Consumers Union is seeking to attract younger readers, with the hope of eventually selling them online or print subscriptions to Consumer Reports.
It is also something of a logical fit. Consumer Reports does not accept advertising, and once the sale closes on Jan. 1, neither will Consumerist.
“When Consumers Union was formed, it was a pretty snarky, aggressive organization that took on big organizations just like Consumerist is doing today, it’s just going to an audience that we basically don’t reach,” Consumers Union’s executive vice president, John Sateja said. “It may not be language or voice or style that Consumers Union has, in recent years, become accustomed to, but it is part of the roots of the organization.”
Consumers Union was founded in 1936 when advertising first flooded the mass media. Consumers lacked a reliable source of information they could depend on to help them distinguish hype from fact and good products from bad ones.
