A staff meeting at the Axios offices in Arlington, Va., in February.Credit…Jared Soares for The New York TimesAxios, the digital media company that quickly gained traction since its founding five years ago with its distinctive bulletin-style scoops on the realms of politics, business and technology, said on Monday that it agreed to sell itself to Cox Enterprises.The deal, which is set to close this month, values Axios at $525 million, according to two people with knowledge of the deal.The deal is structured so that the company’s three founders — Jim VandeHei, the chief executive; Roy Schwartz, the president; and Mike Allen, a journalist — have financial incentives to stay at the company. Each will be a minority shareholder and will continue to make day-to-day newsroom and business decisions. Alex Taylor, the chief executive and chairman of Cox Enterprises, will join the Axios board.Axios became a Beltway media fixture shortly after it was founded in 2017, with readers devouring stories about President Donald J. Trump and his administration. Jonathan Swan, Axios’ national political correspondent, gained attention for his probing on-camera sitdowns with Mr. Trump and White House officials, and newsletters from journalists such as Dan Primack and Sara Fischer captured the attention of the business set.The deal offers a rare flicker of hope for the digital publishing sector, which has been fraught with difficulty …
