Media Chain sells moribund asset to Daily Mash owner for £200k

AIM-listed Digitalbox plc has completed a deal to buy the digital assets of moribund site The Life Network from Media Chain Group Limited for £200,000.

The deal follows on from the £800,000 deal in 2023 whereby the owner of The Daily Mash paid for other digital assets owned by Media Chain, the company started in Manchester by Dragon’s Den investor Steven Bartlett in 2014. 

Media Chain houses 20+ social pages with over 60m followers and was previously part of the broader Social Chain business established in Manchester in 2014. 

The other parts of Bartlett’s former business were sold in the spring of 2023 leaving the media division (Media Chain Group Limited) that houses 20+ social pages with over 60m followers.

The acquisition provides Digitalbox with the opportunity to extend its audience reach through The Life Network’s 5.6m Facebook followers and 357k Instagram followers. The assets made losses of £400 in 2024 after all activity was paused on them in the middle of the year. The combined follower base is expected to add almost 6m to the 21m currently owned by Digitalbox.

James Carter, CEO, Digitalbox, said The Life Network contains a significant female US audience footprint, which has synergies to build around its Royal Insider site.

“The opportunity to acquire some of the Media Chain Group assets is an excellent way for us to extend the audiences currently being served by the Digitalbox brands.”

Christian Grobel, CEO, Media Chain Group Limited, said: “We are pleased to be offering these assets to a great home. The audience bases we have built will complement the Digitalbox portfolio and benefit from the Company’s talented editorial teams. We wish them the best of luck with the next stage of development for their brands.”

Digitalbox says it is looking to acquire other digital brands and has cash of £2.1 million.