Business
Digital Media Companies Group Nine and Refinery29 are Planning to Merge

Digital media companies Group Nine and Refinery29 are planning to merge, three close people aware of this news revealed. As most of the digital ad share is going to Google and Facebook, so a lot of venture-funded digital media companies are planning to merge. Such speculations are in new since the last few months. However, there is no clear message from the heads of both the companies namely, Group Nine and Refinery. Even the heads of both the companies said earlier this year that they only believe in the acquisition.
Although a lot of companies are planning to merge, which is not an easy task. Any type of merger involves a lot of challenges which both the merger companies need to tackle. Similar to this, the merger between Group Nine and Refinery doesn’t seem to come in the near future. Both companies need to understand the values of each other before coming together to make their merger successful. However, in the case of these two companies, investors namely, Discovery and Turner have to agree on terms as both of these backed Group Nine and Refinery.
As the two companies belong to different cultures so it is hard to combine and if it happens, then it would be a challenging task. One of the possibilities that experienced media mergers and acquisitions suggests is that both the companies could combine in a stock deal without changing money from one hand to another. However, if this merger happens, the chances for the growth of both companies would increase manifold. There is a huge demand for digital media and hence the responsibility for digital footprint also resides on the shoulders of both the companies. Reacting to this merger news, both Group Nine and Refinery representative said they have not decided anything about the merger. They said they are discussing the opportunities to merge with their peers.
The nature of the two companies, Group Nine and Refinery29 are the same, as the two make videos for the audience. Out of the two, Group Nine makes more profit, although the industry watchers don’t consider this fact. The relation between the two companies is on the grounds of links between investors. Group Nine CEO Ben Lerer joins the team of Lerer Hippaeu, which has made an investment in Refinery.
Group Nine, which is a product of Nowthis, The Dodo, Thrillist, and Seeker. It got started due to the $100 mn investment of Discovery Communications and post this, discovery continued to invest more money into it. In order to diversify, it is planning to sell its video studio output and branching out to e-commerce. On the other hand, 2005 founded company, Refinery is a women’s lifestyle publisher. Refinery gets its revenue from advertising and organizing other events. The company is planning to increase its profitability by expanding its live events and selling high-quality video for streaming services globally.
The companies are talking about a merger because these venture-backed digital media are not getting enough money out of their business and hence their profitability is not very high. One way to get profit is to get cheap distribution on Facebook. But Facebook has refused to allow free distribution and the major part of advertising is going into the hands of Facebook and Google. Hence, companies are only left with the option of mergers so that they could remove redundant staff to increase their profitability.
Business
Scaling Success: Why Smart Habits Beat Growth Hacks in Modern eCommerce

There’s a romanticized image of the eCommerce founder: a daring risk-taker chasing the next big idea, fueled by late-night caffeine and last-minute inspiration. But the reality behind scaled, sustainable brands tells a different story. Success in digital commerce doesn’t come from chaos or clever hacks. It comes from habits. Repetitive, structured, often unglamorous habits.
Change, a digital platform created by eCommerce strategist Ryan, builds its entire philosophy around this truth. Through education, mentorship, and infrastructure, Change helps founders shift from scrambling for quick wins to building strong systems that grow with them. The company doesn’t just offer software. It provides the foundation for digital trade, particularly for those in the B2B space.
The Habits That Build Momentum
At the heart of Change’s philosophy are five core habits Ryan considers non-negotiable. These aren’t buzzwords; they’re the foundation of sustainable growth.
First, obsess over data. Successful founders replace guesswork with metrics. They don’t rely on gut feelings. They measure performance and iterate.
Second, know your customer deeply. Not just what they buy, but why they buy. The most resilient brands build emotional loyalty, not just transactional volume.
Third, test fast. Algorithms shift. Consumer behavior changes. High-performing teams don’t resist this; they test weekly, sometimes daily, and adapt.
Fourth, manage time like a CEO. Every decision has a cost. Prioritizing high-impact actions isn’t optional; it’s survival.
Fifth, stay connected to mentorship and learning. The digital market moves quickly. The remaining founders are the ones who keep learning, never assuming they know it all.
Turning Habits into Infrastructure
What begins as personal discipline must eventually evolve into a team structure. Change teaches founders how to scale their systems, not just their sales.
Tools are essential for starting, think Notion for documentation, Asana for project management, Mixpanel or PostHog for analytics, and Loom for async communication. But tools alone don’t create momentum.
Teams need Monday metric check-ins, weekly test cycles, customer insight reviews, just to name a few. Founders set the tone by modeling behavior. It’s the rituals that matter, then, they turn it into company culture.
Ryan puts it simply: “We’re not just building tools; we’re building infrastructure for digital trade.”
Avoiding the Common Traps
Even with structure, the path isn’t always smooth. Some founders over-focus on short-term results, chasing vanity metrics or shiny tactics that feel productive but don’t move the needle.
Others fall into micromanagement, drowning in dashboards instead of building intuition. Discipline should sharpen clarity, not create rigidity. Flexibility is part of the process. Knowing when to pivot is just as important as knowing when to persist.
Scaling Through Self-Replication
In the end, eCommerce scale isn’t just about growing a business. It’s about repeating successful systems at every level. When founders internalize high-performance habits, they turn them into processes, then culture, then legacy.
Growth doesn’t require more motivation. It requires more precision. More consistency. Your calendar, not your to-do list, is your business plan.
In a space dominated by noise and novelty, Change and its founder are quietly reshaping the conversation. They aren’t chasing trends but building resilience, one habit at a time.
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