Puck has acquired a popular shopping newsletter.
Media's hot word of the season is *consolidation*
Good morning everyone. I saw snowflakes this morning, so this album is on.
Puck acquired ’s Substack newsletter, Retail Diary
Media’s favorite word right now is consolidation.
On Sunday evening, Semafor sent out their weekly media newsletter and said that the industry should brace for changes. “It’s open season for media companies big and small next year. Media insiders expect investment and dealmaking to whir back to life amid a friendlier regulatory environment for consolidation.”
Jeremy Boreing, co-founder of the conservative media network The Daily Wire, teased Puck’s Dylan Beyers about potential acquisition plans as his audio empire booms.
“We’ve been thinking at Puck, how do we make Line Sheet a five-day-a-week thing, without me collapsing?”
And I was at a lunch yesterday at The Chelsea Hotel to celebrate Pamela Anderson and Gia Coppola’s new film, The Last Showgirl, when someone asked if anyone thought legacy publications would soon bring on Substack writers as columnists.
Hours after I got home from lunch (my second Croque Madame of the week),
announced that she’d be joining Lauren Sherman’s team at Line Sheet. Hours after that, Lauren announced that Line Sheet would also be shifting from three to five emails a week. This morning, Lauren discussed the reason for the growing team on her podcast, Fashion People. “We’ve been thinking at Puck, how do we make Line Sheet a five-day-a-week thing, without me collapsing?”I reached out to
last night to hear her thoughts on the move, and here’s what she told me:“I've been obsessed with the retail industry throughout my 20+ year career in merchandising, ecommerce, and strategy. When I launched Retail Diary in 2019, it was to spark deeper conversations around fashion and retail. Joining Puck and partnering with Lauren Sherman is the perfect next chapter—an unmatched opportunity to bring my industry expertise to a larger stage and dive deep into stories that matter, from the evolution of legacy retailers to emerging digital-first brands. As a merchant-turned-journalist, I'm excited to offer an insider's perspective on the business of shopping and retail transformation.”
This isn’t the first time Puck acquired a Substack newsletter. In April, Puck acquired Artelligence, a newsletter about the global art market. At the time, Puck’s editor-in-chief told Axios that the deal was, “a test case for acquiring other newsletters in the future.”
Details of the acquisition aren’t clear. Substack’s public analytics indicate that Retail Diary has about 10k subscribers, with less than 1,000 of those being paid. All of Retail Diary’s paid subscribers will be reimbursed for the remaining length of their subscription (I’m guessing Puck is covering this). I’m also guessing Puck gave Shapiro a signing bonus, and a nice salary — it’s hard to keep giving equity out, but maybe she got a fraction of what the founding team got. Plus, Shapiro is getting access to Puck’s razor-sharp editors for the first time. This is fun, excited to see it all unfold in 2025.
For the month of December, Feed Me will be featuring a daily holiday gift — usually suggested by Emily, sometimes suggested by someone else — some might generate affiliate revenue. In addition to this advent calendar-style gift guide, there will also be the occasional Christmas surprise.
My faux fur J.Crew peacoat drapes better than it should
When you cut a poly fabric too big, it can fall in a cheap, lazy way. Faux fur coats are often victim to this, and end up looking floppy or unflattering. But this slightly-oversized faux fur coat ends up looking luxurious and sophisticated. And it’s finally cold enough to wear it! The pockets are deep enough that some nights I leave my bag home altogether, and the collar comes up high on my neck so it stays warm.
Anonymous tip from a reader: Alex Cooper is launching a hangover drink. She rarely does partnerships, so this is a smart move on her part. Some sleuths also found that she has trademarks filed for vodka brands… selling the violence and the peace.
And WHY are there only white men on her board? Kidding.
The Wall Street Journal has hired a new reporter to cover the culture of Wall Street. They’ve always covered the business of Wall Street, and it sounds like they’re coming around to realizing that people click on stories about the culture (Kevin, here are some free ideas: talk to Keens about those backpacks, get one of your readers to bring you to Aspen’s members clubs)… they’re oddly a little behind on this. Who is going to tell them that Feed Me’s been doing that for two years?
There are AG1 vending machines in the SF airport. According to AG1’s CEO Kat Cole, “Atlanta, Houston, Oakland, Chicago O'hare airports all going live over the next few weeks, and more coming.”
Giorgio Armani opened a restaurant in New York. Spots like this and LV’s new restaurant are more accessible ways for people to participate in the brand than say, buying a $5k bag. Many will try to replicate with which Ralph Lauren brought his brand into Polo Bar (lightening in a bottle), few will succeed. Worst case is that they feel like a pop-up with expensive furniture.
Shaving brand Harry’s launched a fragrance. I just opened their Instagram account for the first time since maybe, 2018? It looks so bad. I’m confused how a public company with so much clout and raised cash has such a poor social presence (especially compared to a competitor like Dr. Squatch, which seems to be crushing from an engagement perspective). Maybe it worked for the past decade while selling plastic razors, but it sucks to open a page like that on the morning of a launch day for a $250 fragrance.
Would you spend $30 on one bite of food? Fine dining establishments are noticing people are ordering less food (perhaps Ozempic..) but are still willing to spend money on luxurious bites of caviar and truffle.
I’ve been saying the same thing that you have, that we will see acquisitions more and more — buying them now before they get too big and potentially cannibalize an audience is one reason. The other being that it’s just good business. Newsletters make a lot of money when run correctly — with basically zero overhead and a staff of one. I have already been offered writing gigs at legacy titles but am waiting for the right fit… I think it would be short sighted of a writer to retire their newsletter to hop over to a Conde or otherwise full time, but a column that could boost both brands is a boon. I couldn’t be happier for Sarah, she’s one of the kindest and most hard working reporters out there, and her earnest tone will be a breath of fresh air for Puck which leans snarky. Nobody deserves a big boost like this more and I think it was really smart of Lauren to snag her now. It’s an exciting time to be part of this new media wave! Don’t you go selling Feed Me yet though!!
"selling the violence and the peace" is chef's kiss description haha