SiriusXM has acquired 99% Invisible Inc., the company behind popular design and architecture podcast of the same name. The two did not disclose the terms of the deal. However, the deal will see host, creator and executive producer Roman Mars and 13 other employees join Stitcher, the SiriusXM podcasting platform purchased last year for. $ 325 million. Mars will continue to lend its calming voice to the production, in addition to working on new episodes. Meanwhile, the 99pi team will continue to produce What Trump can teach us about fraud law, as well as working on new projects.
After 10 years of independent 99ft production, our 10th year being probably the biggest ever – with three special project spinoffs and a bestselling book – I decided to sell the company to SiriusXM, specifically Stitcher ( their podcast company)
– Roman Mars (@romanmars) April 26, 2021
If you are already 99% invisible subscriber, the good news is that you don’t have to switch to another app to listen to the show. SiriusXM will continue to release new episodes on all platforms where the series is already available. Having said that, Mars said The New York Times companies could explore exclusives down the line. As to why he decided to sell the business, Mars says he wanted to refocus. “A lot of my job was running a business, not podcasting,” he wrote in a Twitter feed on the acquisition. “I desperately needed this to change.”
SiriusXM’s purchase of 99% Invisible Inc. ends a period of rapid consolidation for the podcasting industry. After Amazon announced its intention to acquire Wondery, there weren’t many big independent actors in space anymore. Radiotopy, the creator-owned podcasting collective Mars, co-founded in 2014, was one of the few exceptions. It will continue to operate independently, with Mars donating $ 1 million to the network to continue its mission.
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