Who Owns The Drive?

Time Inc. launched TheDrive.com in 2015 inside The Foundry, its content innovation unit, positioning it as a feature-heavy automotive destination distinct from the company's legacy car magazines. In February 2016 Time Inc. acquired two of YouTube's largest car channels, /DRIVE (featuring Chris Harris, Mike Spinelli, and Alex Roy) and Fast Lane Daily, folding their audiences and video talent into the site. Editor-in-Chief Mike Guy led the publication from founding.

The site carved out a distinctive editorial identity around smart, reported car culture coverage and launched The War Zone, Tyler Rogoway's defense and military technology vertical, which became an authority in its niche and remains the publication's most distinctive property. By late 2018 The Drive had reached 23 million monthly pageviews, 1.9 million YouTube subscribers, and nearly a million Facebook followers, with advertisers including Volvo, eBay Motors, Dodge, Jaguar, and Lexus.

Meredith Corporation acquired Time Inc. in early 2018 and moved quickly to divest non-core assets. North Equity purchased The Drive in December 2018, describing it as the largest independent automotive media brand in the United States. The deal became the first building block of what North Equity formalized as Recurrent Ventures in 2021, and Recurrent's own leadership still describes the acquisition as the template for its strategy of buying established enthusiast titles and scaling them on shared infrastructure.

Under Recurrent, The Drive has grown substantially, with the company reporting more than 250 percent audience growth since acquisition. It operates alongside Donut Media (acquired November 2021) and Car Bibles in an automotive vertical that now includes video, commerce, events, and affiliate operations.