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Millennial news and lifestyle site Elite Daily’s CEO and editorial director David Arabov and COO Jonathon Francis are leaving the publication on March 31.
Arabov will be succeeded by David Moss, Elite Daily’s vp of content, while Francis will be replaced by Nicole Goksel, the company’s vp of product, technology and insights. Miguel Burger-Calderon will continue as Elite Daily’s president in charge of strategy and ad sales. The news was first reported by Business Insider.
Elite Daily was acquired The Daily Mail for $40 to $50 million last year. Its parent company DMG Media CEO Kevin Beatty said in a statement that the new management will continue Arabov’s and Francis’ legacy to “ensure that the site continues as the voice of Generation Y.”
In February of this year, 83 percent of Elite Daily’s 24.5 million unique visitors were millennials, according to comScore. Elite Daily’s traffic decreased by 42.8 percent between November 2014 and November 2015, but the publication’s ad revenue for Q4 2015 increased by 211 percent year over year.
The site’s social shares mainly come from Facebook, according to BuzzSumo. There, Elite Daily started beefing up its video capabilities last year, expanding its video team from seven to 35. In 2015, Elite Daily’s Facebook video content raked in 153 million views with 18.9 million in December alone.
Elite Daily was founded by Arabov, Francis, and their friend Gerard Adams in 2012. They raised around $2.1 million in funding before it got acquired by The Daily Mail.
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