ESPN's FiveThirtyEight website could be sold soon as the property's group of suitors has now been narrowed down to three.
People familiar with the matter told The Wall Street Journal that ABC News, subscription-based sports website The Athletic and Emerson Collective LLC's The Atlantic magazine are the final bidders for FiveThirtyEight. The sale process is expected to conclude in the coming weeks, according to the report.
The creator of the site, Nate Silver, sold FiveThirtyEight to Walt Disney Co.'s ESPN in 2013, but he maintained ownership of the statistical models used in its journalism. The site focuses on opinion poll analysis, politics, economics and sports blogging.
Sources told the Journal that ESPN is selling the property to focus more on its core sports content and to cut costs.
