Maven raised $20 million in 2019 as it planned to expand Sports Illustrated through a large network of team-focused websites and independent contributors. But Maven did not own Sports Illustrated: Authentic Brands Group (ABG) owned the brand, while Maven held publishing rights. The distinction—and the fact that Maven’s ambitious figures were plans and forecasts, not proven results—is central to understanding the story.
What Maven’s $20 million raise was meant to fund
GeekWire reported on October 15, 2019, that Maven had raised $20 million, citing public filings and confirmation from the company. Maven’s strategy was to build publishing operations around recognizable media brands, then scale them with networks of independent contributors using shared technology and advertising sales.
Maven described its approach as a response to pressure on traditional publishers. In an investor presentation quoted by GeekWire, the company wrote, “The old model for publishers is dead,” arguing that independent publishers could not compete with advertising giants Google and Facebook. Under Maven’s proposed model, the company would provide the publishing platform and negotiate advertising contracts; contributors would produce coverage for selected channels, with participation described as invite-only. Advertising and subscriptions were potential revenue streams.
The financing account also described an offering target of $25 million at $0.70 per share, which GeekWire said implied a projected post-money valuation of $188 million. Those were reported offering terms and a valuation implication, not confirmation that Maven completed the target raise or achieved that valuation. Investors named in the report included CEO James Heckman, president Josh Jacobs, chairman John Fichthorn, David Bailey, Peter Mills, Rinku Sen and Todd Sims. GeekWire’s October 2019 report
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What Maven planned for Sports Illustrated and other brands
The Sports Illustrated plan was one part of a broader expansion agenda. These were targets Maven disclosed in 2019, not evidence that the outlets or partnerships were ultimately launched at the stated scale.
- Sports Illustrated: 200 team-specific websites.
- TheStreet: 60 “financial journalist partnerships.”
- Content networks: more than 30 planned networks.
- Political coverage: a news brand intended to bring together more than 100 journalists ahead of the 2020 U.S. election.
Maven also forecast more than $30 million in digital revenue for the fourth quarter of 2019 and said it expected to be profitable the following year. These were management forecasts reported at the time, not verified financial results.
Did Maven own Sports Illustrated?
No. In 2019, ABG owned Sports Illustrated’s intellectual property, while Maven was the publisher operating the magazine and website under publishing rights. Owning a brand and holding a license to publish it are different roles: a licensee can run publications under agreed terms without owning the underlying brand.
The distinction matters because the 2019 headline shorthand “owner Maven” could be read as a claim about brand ownership. The contemporaneous reporting instead described Maven as the publisher and ABG as the intellectual-property owner. The Washington Post’s March 2024 account
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The plan promised scale by combining a recognizable brand with many specialized channels and a distributed contributor network. That approach could expand topic coverage while sharing technology and ad sales, but it also raised questions about staffing and editorial capacity. GeekWire’s 2019 report placed the expansion plans amid criticism from Sports Illustrated employee and union groups over layoffs and the reliance on contributors. Those groups’ criticism should be understood as their contemporaneous response, not as a finding that every planned channel lacked editorial oversight.
The figures Maven announced described ambition, not demonstrated quality or audience outcomes. A target of 200 team sites, for example, does not by itself show that each site launched, had sufficient reporting resources or met readers’ expectations. The strategy’s central trade-off was between potential reach and the editorial resources needed to sustain trusted coverage.
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What happened to Sports Illustrated’s publishing rights
Maven later became known as Arena Group. In January 2024, ABG revoked Arena Group’s Sports Illustrated publishing license after the company missed a quarterly payment reported by the Associated Press as $3.75 million. On March 18, 2024, ABG named Minute Media as the new publisher. The Washington Post reported that the license covered print and online Sports Illustrated, Sports Illustrated Swimsuit and Sports Illustrated Kids for 10 years, with an option for an additional 20 years; ABG would receive an equity stake in Minute Media. These are terms reported in March 2024, not a statement about the publisher today. Associated Press coverage of the license dispute The Washington Post’s report on Minute Media’s license
The Washington Post described the Arena period as involving several rounds of layoffs and controversy over AI-written product reviews, as well as layoffs affecting Sports Illustrated’s unionized workforce. The union alleged that Arena’s layoffs unlawfully targeted union members; the cited coverage described a complaint and investigation process, not a final legal finding. The Washington Post’s January 2024 account of the union complaint
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