Axios has agreed to sell itself to Cox Enterprises in a deal that values the digital media firm at $525 million, the New York Times reported Monday, citing two people familiar with the matter.

The deal is set to close this month, according to the report.

It is seen as a landmark national media deal for Atlanta-based Cox, a communications and automotive and services company. Axios, founded in 2017 by former top Politico execs, has emerged as an influential player in Washington, D.C., political coverage.

Cox CEO Alex Taylor told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution the company is purchasing Axios because "we're just passionate about journalism and covering the news. Axios is an exciting company [that] operate[s] the best national platform in the country, and they have the fastest-growing local platform."

Taylor added: "The Fourth Estate is more important now than ever."

Axios CEO Jim VandeHei said in a statement: "We have found our kindred spirit for creating a great, trusted, consequential media company that can outlast us all. Our shared ambitions should be clear: to spread clinical, nonpartisan, trusted journalism to as many cities and as many topics as fast as possible."

Cox, which first took out a minority stake in Axios last year, is one of the nation's largest family-owned newspaper and broadcasting companies. Its annual revenue tops $20 billion. Ohio Gov. James M. Cox founded the company in 1898, with his acquisition of the Dayton Daily News.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Axios did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.