Nylon spent 20 years defining downtown cool — sold as a 'distressed asset' in 2019

Nylon launched in 1999 as a magazine of fashion, music and downtown culture, and for two decades ran as a family business under Marc Luzzatto. In 2014 Diversis Capital bought in and merged it with FashionIndie; the print edition ended with the October 2017 issue, and the 12-person print team was laid off.

The digital pivot did not hold. Two site redesigns in 2018 and early 2019 lifted engagement, but US traffic still fell a third — from 1.4M monthly visitors in January 2019 to 950K by May — and Variety described what remained as a 'shadow of what it was.' Bryan Goldberg's verdict on the moment: 'It's a tough time to be an independent, or family-owned, magazine.'

On June 27, 2019, Bustle Digital Group bought the US business for undisclosed cash and equity; Marc Luzzatto became a minority shareholder in BDG, and about two dozen editorial staff were offered jobs with raises. The influencer arm Socialyte stayed out of the deal. Print would return only as special issues tied to cultural moments — a magazine reduced to moments.