Media.com relaunched as a reputation management platform with a $20 million investment

Media.com has undergone a change in ownership. According to a report by Axios, Australian private equity company Kismet Group acquired the domain name Media.com with a vision to launch it as a reputation management platform.

In an exclusive interview with Axios, James Mawhinney, the CEO and founder of Media.com, shared that the company is making a substantial investment of $20 million in this endeavor, which includes the acquisition of the domain name.

This investment comes after three years of dedicated development work on the project. Media.com secured the domain name in July, setting the stage for a publishing platform tailored for reputation management. While the exact purchase price for Media.com was not disclosed, it represents a pivotal part of their overall investment.

Kismet Group’s interest in creating a reputation management hub stems from the belief that existing social media platforms have fallen short and become increasingly toxic, making it difficult for individuals and businesses to defend their reputations, Mawhinney told Axios. The $20 million investment is slated to fund various aspects of the project, including the recruitment of engineers for platform development, the establishment of a trust and safety team, and the hiring of staff to oversee the subscription model and content licensing.

Mawhinney highlighted that Media.com will serve as a platform where individuals and businesses navigating public crises can counter false information about themselves. While users contributing content will be subject to a subscription fee, visitors to the platform will be able to access responses at no cost.

“There’s a lot of deficiencies in [how] existing social media platforms are curtailing the spread of misinformation,” Mawhinney says. “With Media.com … we’re not driven by advertising revenues and impressions.”

How Media.com Works

So, how does Media.com work exactly? Subscribers can post text, video, or audio content and even share URLs to stories, court filings, or other documents. They will have the capability to “deconstruct” these items to address specific claims. To maintain authenticity, user profiles, particularly those belonging to famous or influential figures, will undergo verification.

“Media.com empowers you to engage with all types of media. You can tell your story, showcase your brand, and publish your responses, free from interference. We have designed Media.com to give you the power to take control of your online presence and reputation,” the firm said on the home page of its recently launched website.  When asked about the acquisition cost of Media.com, Mawhinney told the domain investing blog site DomainInvesting.com:

“The domain name Media.com is integral to building a premium global media brand. It took months of sourcing and negotiation. We are delighted to have come up with a business and a domain name that we expect millions of people will benefit immensely from.”

Prior to this change of hands, Media.com was under the ownership of Future Media Architects. In a 2020 article, DomainInvesting reported that Future Media Architects had listed the domain name for sale via Saw.com, and Saw.com CEO Jeff Gabriel confirmed that his company had brokered the sale of the domain name.