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Dana E. Neuts

Dana Neuts is Subscription Insider's Editorial Director, covering our daily subscription news as well as member features, case studies, premium content, and reports. Dana is also a writer, editor, marketer and communications professional. Her work has appeared in AARP Bulletin, The Seattle Times, Seattle Business, 425 Business, 425 Magazine, South Sound Magazine, Northwest Travel and more. Her specialties include business writing, community news, senior issues, travel and, of course, subscriptions!

Dana E. Neuts

Sun Basket Raises $30 Million to Broaden Healthy Meal Offerings

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Last week, Sun Basket, a San Francisco-based healthy meal delivery subscription service, announced that it raised $30 million in Series E funding, led by PivotNorth Capital. Other investors include Sapphire Ventures, August Capital, Founders Circle, Unilever Ventures, Baseline Ventures, Relevance Capital, Accolade Partners, and Correlation Ventures. This brings the companys total funding raised to date to $125 million.

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Uber Eats Tests $9.99 Subscription for Free Unlimited Food Delivery

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Uber Eats is testing a subscription service that would give subscribers free unlimited food delivery for $9.99 a month, reports TechCrunch. The delivery fee, which is usually 15% of orders over $5, could save frequent users a lot per month, even if they only order a couple of times. Uber Eats hasnt disclosed the service, or confirmed its existence, but reverse-engineering specialist Jane Manchun Wong found Uber Eats Pass in the code of an Android app. She shared this image with TechCrunch:

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GateHouse Media Lays Off 200 in Small Restructuring

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GateHouse Media, one of the largest newspaper publishers in the United States, is laying off as many as 200 employees in a company reorganization. Of those 200 or so employees, a large majority of non-reporting positions will be moved to reporting positions, said Mike Reed, CEO of GateHouse parent New Media Investment Group (NYSE: NEWM), in an interview with Poynter. We are doing a small restructuring – at least thats what I would call it – that Im sure will be misreported. We have 11,000 employees. This involves a couple of hundred, Reed told Poynter.

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Weekly Subscription News: Game of Thrones, iQiyi and Urban Outfitters

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In this weeks subscription headlines, Shopify announced it is opening an office in Toronto and doubling its workforce, HBO plotted what it will do now that Game of Thrones has come to an end, and Minna raised $6.2 million to expand subscription management for European banks. Also this week, Urban Outfitters launched an online clothing rental subscription, iQiyi said it will create original content, and Canva joined the stock photo market.

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illustration of the number five, representing the five subscription business topics for this column, Five-on-Friday

Five on Friday: Free Trials, Reader Comments and Online Dating

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Before we head into the Memorial Day weekend, we want to take a moment to honor the service men and women who made the ultimate sacrifice to serve their country. Thank you. Now onto subscription topics. In this edition of Five on Friday, we look at some of the pitfalls of using free trials, Washington Posts Arc Publishings new subscription tools, the latest thinking about reader comments, the exploding online dating market and Adobes path from $200 million to $5 billion in recurring revenue.

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Salon Announces $5 Million Deal to Sell Itself to New Buyer

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Digital media company Salon Media Group is for sale, including intellectual property rights and the Salon.com website, according to a May 8 filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The sale price is $5 million and Salon.com LLC is named as the buyer. A 10% deposit of $500,000 has already been made. This will be part of the $550,000 due in cash at closing, $100,000 of which will be deposited into escrow. The balance of $3.85 million is due in two installments over the next two years, half due at 12 months and the remainder at 24 months. This balance is secured with a promissory note.

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WarnerMedia May Pull Licensed Content from Rival SVOD Services

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It is every man for himself. When WarnerMedia launches its own streaming video subscription service later this year, it is likely to retain – or regain – licensing rights to popular shows like Friends and Seinfeld that were previously licensed to rival services, says the Hollywood Reporter. AT&Ts purchase of Time Warner for $85 billion last year gives the companys entertainment division, now called Warner Media and run by Bob Greenblatt, a vast range of existing content to choose from.

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Amazon Invests $575 Million in Deliveroo Food Delivery

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Amazon made headlines last week when it made a $575 million investment in Deliveroo, a London-based food delivery service. Amazon was the lead investor in Deliveroos Series G funding round, joining existing investors T. Rowe Price, Fidelity Management and Research Company and Greenoaks Capital. The Series G round brings total raised to date to $1.53 billion. A current valuation has not been calculated, but after Deliveroos last funding round in September 2017, the company was valued at $2 billion, reports Forbes.

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Gannett Shareholders Reject MNG Nominees for Board of Directors

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Last Thursday, Gannett (NYSE: GCI) shareholders proclaimed a resounding no to MNG board candidates, electing eight of its own candidates instead. MNG Enterprises, also known as Digital First Media, has been trying to take over Gannett since January when it made an unsolicited bid to buy the media organization for $1.4 billion. Gannett rejected the bid, saying it undervalued Gannett, that MNGs offer was not credible, and it was not in the best interests of its shareholders.

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Meredith Reports Total Revenue of $743 Million in Q3 FY2019

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Media and marketing company Meredith Corporation (NYSE: MDP) reported total company revenue of $743.4 million, an increase of 14.1% year-over-year, for the third quarter of its fiscal year 2019. Total revenue growth was driven by significant increases in advertising and consumer categories. Advertising revenue was $365.6 million, a 12.7% increase year-over-year, and consumer revenue was $359.0 million, 27.6% increase year-over-year. Consumer revenue includes subscriptions, brand licensing, affiliate marketing, lead generation, affinity marketing and paid products. Merediths other revenue was $18.8 million, compared to $45.2 million for the same period last year.

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