Associated Press, Fox Sports to sell Stats venture to private equity firm

NEW YORK, N.Y. - The Associated Press and Fox Sports are selling their sports-data joint venture Stats LLC to Vista Equity Partners, a San Francisco-based private equity firm.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

The 50-50 partnership was formed in Chicago in 2005 and provides real-time scores, historical information and technology to websites and other customers.

AP and Fox, a unit of Twenty-First Century Fox Inc., will continue to exchange stories, photos and data with Stats.

Ken Dale, AP chief financial officer, said Stats' revenue has tripled since its founding, but its growth is increasingly in selling technology that is outside AP's core business.

Dale said AP's revenue and costs won't change significantly after the sale. He said the proceeds will be used to cut the news co-operative's pension obligations.