Time and time again, struggling media companies succumb to another billionaire. It was only a matter of time before Vox Media met the same fate. Last week, New York magazine, including Grub Street, along with Vox.com and the Vox Media podcast networks were purchased by James Murdoch, the youngest son of Rupert Murdoch, for reportedly more than $300 million. Half of Vox Media now joins the Murdoch media empire, with the family collectively owning Fox Corporation, Wall Street Journal, New York Post, and many other news outlets.
As for the fate of Eater, there are rumors that Capital One is considering buying the food media brand, according to Puck. If a deal were to go through, this would be an eerily familiar strategy to when the Infatuation was bought by JPMorgan Chase to expand the bank’s credit card perks, like extra points when spending at restaurants and exclusive reservations at major hot spots. Capital One and Eater have partnered on several sponsorships, including an ongoing dinner series as well as the launch of the Eater iOS app. When the restaurant discovery app was first released in October 2024, it gave Capital One customers access to exclusive restaurant reservations. For now, Eater — along with the Verge, SBNation, Punch, and Thrillist — will remain together to form a yet-to-be-named company while the Vox Media name will move along as subsidiary within Murdoch's Lupa Systems.
If Capital One were to buy Eater, it would be especially concerning for the entire Ravenous team as we all worked at Eater, some of us for more than a decade. We witnessed several rounds of layoffs, including our own in August 2025. We’re worried for the talented folks who still work there and still care about food journalism. It would be a shame for an organization that once published deep dives and irreverent blogs to go to a bank that’ll use it to sell credit cards.
At Ravenous, we’ll never sell to a billionaire. We’ll never report to a Murdoch, a chief executive officer, or a bank. We’ve built Ravenous to be a worker-owned media company, which means all workers have direct input in making company decisions and get paid equally. Since we’re run by journalists, every business decision puts quality work and people first, unlike many media company leaders who have never worked a day in journalism in their lives. As worker-owners, our obligations are to ourselves, to our ethics, and to our subscribers. Thank you again for your support and solidarity.
Stories From The Week
- Things are shaking up at one of the World’s 50 Best Bars. Jaya Saxena talked to Attaboy Union reps who allege that bar management fired a worker in retaliation for organizing.
- This week, we did a round-robin on the new wave of soft-serve in Detroit, Chicago, New York, and Dallas.
🐦⬛ Bird droppings
- Last week was a rough one in food media. On Monday, May 18, America’s Test Kitchen laid of 24 employees, which is 10 percent of its staff. The cuts come a few months after the company acquired Food52 through a bankruptcy auction sale.
- The Michelin Guide got rid of the Green Star for sustainability and ordered previous winners to take down signage of the award. One British chef said it was “pretty gutting” and “a shame.”
- The Trump administration made meat processing a lot faster. But that means increased injuries to workers and making the food less safe to eat. Great.
- As a parent, I’m guilty of using ChatGPT for meal planning for convenience. But I agree with this Best Food Blog piece that the recipes are mid and Western-leaning.
