NEW YORK — The digital media conglomerate Starboard said Friday it purchased the conservative social media site Parler and will temporarily take down the app as it undergoes a “strategic assessment.”
The deal came months after another acquisition agreement with rapper Kanye West, legally known as Ye, collapsed in November.
The terms of the acquisition were not disclosed by either company. Parler said the deal was concluded on April 7.
Parler caters to right-wing, far right and libertarian voices and fashions itself as a platform with fewer rules in support of free speech. It was briefly booted off the internet in 2021 due to its connections to the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. And its user base remains small.
Starboard, formerly known as Olympic Media, was founded in 2018 and owns other conservative-leaning news sites. In a news release, Parler called it “the perfect home” for its brand and loyal users.
“The team at Parler has built an exceptional audience and we look forward to integrating that audience across all of our existing platforms.” Starboard CEO Ryan Coyne said in a statement.
Parler also said its CEO George Farmer will step down from his role. He will be replaced by Igor Shalkevich, the company’s chief development officer.
Parler has struggled amid competition from other conservative-friendly platforms like Truth Social, which are tiny as well compared with mainstream social media sites. Parler had an average of 725,000 monthly active users in the U.S. for the first half of last year, according to Data.ai, which tracks mobile app usage. That's down from 5.2 million in the first half of 2021. Overall, including people outside the U.S., Parler still failed to reach the 1 million mark in the first half of last year.
