Perhaps one of the websites frequently visited by strong, independent and quirky women nowadays is "HelloGiggles," which was co-founded by "New Girl" actress, Zooey Deschanel.
Recently, it was announced that Time Inc., parent company of EW and PEOPLE, acquired the said website. Now under the umbrella of a giant company, will "HelloGiggles" lose its authenticity?
Due to the website's success, Time Inc. has decided to acquire the said site.
"With its passionate, highly-engaged audience and quality editorial voice, HelloGiggles is a great fit for our entertainment portfolio, which includes PEOPLE and Entertainment Weekly," said Time Inc. Chairman and CEO Joe Ripp in a press release.
"We see the opportunity for HelloGiggles to continue to evolve and grow as a multimedia content business," Ripp added.
Aside from Zooey Deschanel, the website was co-founded by Sophia Rivka Rossi and Molly McAleer in 2011 and since then has seen rapid traffic growth. Every month, "Hello Giggles" has about 17 million unique visitors.
HelloGiggles is a positive, female-focused online community where writers, artists and women from all walks of life share the latest news in culture, fashion, friendship, female empowerment, societal issues, careers and others.
Despite the recent acquisition, "HelloGiggles" co-creator Zooey Deschanel assured readers that the website will remain true to its identity.
"With Time Inc. as our partner, we'll be able to expand the HelloGiggles mission and inspire and support even more young women with a safe and positive media platform," the actress said.
"Joining Time Inc. is an amazing opportunity to grow our brand and expand our message," said Rossi. "Becoming a part of the iconic PEOPLE and Entertainment Weekly family is an extremely exciting step for us,"
According to Entertainment Weekly, Zooey Deschanel will remain as the Chief Creative Officer of the website while Rossi will continue to be their CEO and report to Rich Battista, the Executive Vice President of Time Inc.
In 2014, Zooey Deschanel talked about her start-up website in The Queen Latifah Show.
"I guess it's human nature that you kind of want to see people fail. I mean, there's just so much negativity," Deschanel said of where she got the idea for HelloGiggles. "So as a response to that, I created a website (with) my friends and it's a totally positive atmosphere,"
"I just didn't want anyone posting mean comments and so we created a system so that anything mean get immediately taken off or voted down," she added.
Deschanel is currently on maternity leave after giving birth to a baby girl.
