Demand Media looks like it’s about to become the latest digital company to retreat from the content business — following the same path blazed by Say Media more than 18 months earlier.
Reliable industry sources said that Demand is trying to quietly sell its collection of media sites that includes lifestyle site eHow, college humor site Cracked and the health site Livestrong.com.
Last month, it shook up its executive ranks.
Julie Campistron, its executive vice president of media, stepped down on June 5 after eight years at the company. She will be a consultant through August.
Scott Boecker, executive vice president of Marketplaces, a group that includes Society6 and Saatchi Art, left in May to pursue another opportunity, according to the company.
Demand declined to comment on the speculation that its content sites were being offered for sale, citing the quiet period before its Aug. 6 second-quarter earnings report.
Things did not look particularly bright in its last full fiscal year. Demand had revenue of $172.4 million in 2014, down from $209.4 million in 2013. The 16 percent year-over-year revenue decline was blamed on a 33 percent decline in content and media, partially offset by a 70 percent rise in its marketplace sites.
Its adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization were $37.4 million, down from $64.4 million a year earlier.
The company last year reported a net loss of $267.4 million, compared with $20.2 million net loss in 2013.
In what could be a sign of the times, the company in its earnings report released in March said the content revenue slide was “due primarily to lower ad monetization from our cost-per-click advertising and our strategic reduction in higher-yielding direct-sold display advertising, partially offset by growth in visits.”
Say Media, which once hoped to do an IPO, backed away from those plans and sold several of its content sites earlier this year.
Still on the block is the Jane Pratt-helmed sites xoJane and xoVain, a beauty site.
SheKnows, a rival, looked at xoJane several months ago but declined to make an offer.
A spokesperson for Say said that it expects to have a buyer shortly — but that would be some 18 months after the company revealed it was retreating from the digital content business.