Bustle

In November 2013, Bryan Goldberg, who co-founded the sports blog Bleacher Report, launched Bustle with $6.2 million in Series A funding from Lightspeed Venture Partners. The site drew more than 1 million unique visitors before it even officially launched. Within six months, it claimed 10 million monthly unique visitors. Critics initially slammed Goldberg, a white male, for creating a women's site, but the audience grew fast.

Bustle covers news and politics with a progressive female lens, alongside beauty, fashion, celebrity, and lifestyle content. Its tone is conversational and often explicitly feminist. The brand expanded into video, podcasts, and affiliate commerce through Bustle Shop. In 2019, Goldberg formed Bustle Digital Group (BDG), which went on to buy Nylon, The Zoe Report, W Magazine, and Gawker. BDG raised over $40 million in venture capital and was valued at $200 million in 2021 after a Goldman Sachs-led round.

Bustle competes directly with Refinery29, PopSugar, and The Cut. It has faced controversies: a plagiarism accusation in 2014 from The Hairpin, and periodic criticism for tone-deaf content on race and class. In 2023-2024, BDG restructured, laying off staff and shuttering the Gawker relaunch. The company has explored AI for content creation and doubled down on commerce as ad revenue declines.[edit]