Bustle was founded by Bryan Goldberg in 2013. Previously, Goldberg co-founded the website Bleacher Report with a single million-dollar investment. He claimed that "women in their 20s have nothing to read on the Internet." Bustle was launched with $6.5 million in backing from Seed and Series A funding rounds. It surpassed 10 million monthly unique visitors in July 2014, placing it ahead of rival women-oriented sites such as Refinery29, Rookie and xoJane; it had the second greatest number of unique visitors after Gawker's Jezebel. Bustles increasing popularity among young women is partly attributed to its young writing staff. The writers are advised to write about stories that interest them; this can range from topics about beauty products to international affairs and politics. By 2015, Bustle had 46 full-time editorial staff and launched the parenting sister site Romper. In September 2016, Bustle launched a redesign using the company's $11.5 million series D funding round. At that time, the site had over 70 full-time editors and 250 contract contributors who posted over 200 articles daily. In April 2019, Kate Ward resigned as editor-in-chief. Emma Rosenblum replaced Ward in June 2019.
Acquisition
On April 17, 2017, DMG Media announced that Elite Daily had been purchased by Bustle Digital Group from The Daily Mail. Goldberg said that the acquisition was done in part to increase Bustle's original video content, which generated an average of 10 million monthly views, compared to Elite Daily's average of 60 million monthly views. Bustle Digital Group purchased the inactive website Gawker in July 2018. Bustle Digital Group bought the events website Flavorpill, owner of Flavorwire, in August 2018. Bustle Digital Group purchased Mic on November 28, 2018 after it laid off the majority of Mic's staff. In March 2019, Bustle Digital Group purchased The Outline, followed by The Zoe Report in May 2019. They also purchased Nylon in June 2019, with the intention to publish print magazines under the Nylon brand name. Rather than monthly publications, the magazines will be published around large cultural events, like Coachella. In July, Bustle Digital acquired Inverse, a science and entertainment site.
