Elite Daily Is Excited To Announce The Next Step In Its Evolution With The Daily Mail

I founded Elite Daily in February of 2012, along with my two other cofounders, Jonathon Francis and Gerard Adams, with the ambition of creating a publication that would disrupt traditional media and truly speak to the Millennial generation.

Browsing existing publications at the time, we found ourselves unable to find a platform that was truly an all-encompassing media company for Millennials with an authentic voice we could relate to and content that fit the diverse scope of our interests.

They all had pieces of what has made Elite Daily great today, but none of them married these qualities in a cohesive package that truly engaged Millennials. Some were too old guard, and others too limited in the breadth of their content. Others who took a Millennial focus in their content stuck to traditional editorial structures and did not permit the members of the community they were targeting to inform the content they were creating.

When we first launched Elite Daily with a team of six employees, we were completely oblivious to what it would eventually become. I was a 21-year-old college student working out of my apartment, finishing the final credits for my bachelor's degree in political science. None of us had prior experience in the media industry, let alone experience managing a media company ourselves.

We could have never imagined we would grow into a 65-person team with an audience of over 74 million readers and a community of over 3,000 contributors from across the globe. We are humbled by what the hard work behind what was originally a passion project for us has turned into today, and we can only thank the readers and contributors who have loyally supported us throughout the process for this success.

In light of this, it is our great honor to announce the next step in Elite Daily's growth: our acquisition by Daily Mail, effective immediately. DailyMail.com is the most-read English language newspaper website in the world, with 199 million readers globally, and has established itself as an industry leader in breaking news and pop culture. This marriage will permit Elite Daily to continue to flourish as a platform for and by Millennials, allowing us to expand internationally, grow our staff and continue to deliver the most relevant and engaging content for Millennials.

This does not represent an end to our journey, but the continuation of our growth as a company to the stature we've always dreamed it would reach. Our acquisition by Daily Mail has provided us the perfect opportunity to do just that.

Our mission -- to provide the best content for Millennials at an even greater scale -- has not changed, and will only be bolstered by a renewed sense of vigor. We remain committed to delivering the most relevant and engaging content to our loyal readership with the same authentic editorial voice we've curated since day one.

This has been a long, but fulfilling journey for us all. We could not have made it to where we are without our loyal readers, and we are immeasurably thankful for your support over the past three years. We hope all of you will continue on this journey with us as we take Elite Daily to the next step of its evolution.