Transferring ownership of a publication or workspace
Whether you're acquiring a publication or transferring one to another workspace within beehiiv, doing so involves changing ownership by either moving the publication between workspaces or reassigning the Owner role within the same workspace. This article covers formal ownership transfers only. If you're looking to add team members with editor, admin, or contributor access without changing workspace ownership, see How to add team members to your publication or workspace and our workspace user roles and permissions overview. This process requires careful planning to ensure a smooth transition for all parties involved.
Transferring ownership involves several key steps, including gathering necessary information and obtaining permissions from both new and current owners of the publication or workspace. In this article, we’ll walk you through the process for transferring ownership both between workspaces and within the same workspace, along with the details to include when contacting our team to help complete the transfer.
Important considerations when transferring publications between workspaces
Before transferring a publication to a new workspace, it’s helpful to understand how this might impact its functionality and billing:
- Workspace-level limits and features: Publications inherit the billing plan, features, and limits of the destination workspace. You can review what’s included in each plan on our Pricing page.
- Subscriber tiers and pricing: Plan tiers are determined by the total number of active subscribers across all publications in a workspace. Transferring a publication may increase the active subscriber count and require a tier upgrade. For more details, visit our Plan types and subscriber plan tier pricing article.
Once you’ve reviewed the steps for your scenario below, you can get started by reaching out to our Chatbot Assistant Buzz in the bottom-right corner of this article or through the Help page in your account.
Transferring the Owner role within the same workspace
If the current Owner would like to transfer ownership, or a current workspace Admin would like to assume ownership, we’ll need to collect some information and verify the request from both the current Owner and the assuming Admin via their associated email addresses.
Information to include in your request
- Email address of the current workspace Owner.
- Email address of the workspace Admin who will be assuming ownership.
Next Steps
Once we receive your request, we’ll follow up to collect written confirmation from both the current Owner and the Admin who will be assuming ownership.
After we’ve received confirmation from both parties, we’ll escalate the request and complete the ownership transfer. Once finalized, we’ll notify you so you can make any additional updates, such as changing billing details or other ownership-related settings.
Transferring publications between workspaces that you own
If you are the Owner of multiple workspaces and you’d like to transfer a publication from one workspace to another, we’ll need to collect some information and receive verification from both Owner emails to move forward with the transfer.
Information to include in your request
- Account Owner email associated with the workspace receiving the publication.
- Account Owner email associated with the workspace currently owning the publication.
- Name of the publication(s) being transferred.
Next Steps
After we receive both emails, we'll follow up on a single email thread, copying both Owner email addresses, to request written confirmation from each. Each Owner will need to reply directly from their associated email address before we can proceed. If you own both workspaces, be sure to reply from each email address associated with those workspaces so we can verify confirmation from both sides.
We'll then outline any remaining steps to ensure the transfer goes smoothly, as well as confirming there are no outstanding monetary considerations, such as paid subscriptions, Boosts, Ad Network earnings, or payouts, that need to be addressed before the transfer.
Once all requirements are met, we'll escalate the request to complete the transfer. We'll confirm via email once it's finalized, so you can take care of any additional updates, like changing billing information or adjusting ownership settings.
Transferring publications between workspaces that have different Owners
If you are selling or acquiring a publication from a workspace you do not own — and both Owners agree to transfer the publication — we’ll need to collect some information and verify approval from both Owner emails to begin the process.
Information to include in your request
- Account Owner email associated with the workspace receiving the publication.
- Account Owner email associated with the workspace currently owning the publication.
- Name of the publication(s) being transferred.
Next Steps
After receiving both emails, we'll follow up on a single email thread, copying both Owner email addresses, to request written confirmation from each. Each Owner must reply directly from their associated email address before we can proceed.
We'll then outline any remaining steps to ensure the transfer goes smoothly, as well as confirming there are no outstanding monetary considerations, such as paid subscriptions, Boosts, Ad Network earnings, or payouts, that need to be addressed before the transfer.
Once those items are confirmed, we'll escalate the request to complete the transfer. We'll send a final confirmation once it's done, so you can make any necessary updates, like adjusting billing information or handling any other ownership changes.
FAQs about transferring ownership
Why is all this information required?
This information is crucial for a secure transfer and helps avoid disruptions in the operation of the publication, ensuring a smooth transition for both the readers and those managing the newsletter.
Can we merge multiple publications into one?
No, publications cannot be merged, they can only be transferred from one workspace to another. However, after transferring a publication, you can manually copy and paste content into an existing publication.
Will all team members and Admins transfer with the publication?
Only publication team member roles will transfer. Workspace team members will not move with the publication and will need to be reinvited by the new Owner. For more details, refer to our article on adding additional team members.
What if the original Owner has left or is no longer available?
We will need confirmation from the account Owner email associated with that party. Please make every attempt to provide us with confirmation from that email. If it's not possible, our support team may require additional verification steps to complete the transfer.
What if the original Owner has lost access to their email?
Please refer to our 'Lost access to account email’ article for guidance on regaining access to that email.
What if the new Owner does not have a beehiiv account?
As a first step, start by adding the new Owner’s email as a workspace Admin. This will prompt them to create a beehiiv account. After that, you can submit a request to transfer ownership. For more details, refer to our article on adding additional team members.
What if I want to replace my current Owner account email with the new Owner’s email?
If you no longer wish to be listed in the workspace as the Owner, you can update your account’s Owner email instead of submitting a transfer request. Please refer to our 'How to change your beehiiv account email’ article for more information. Before making changes, be sure to review and remove any sensitive information, such as billing details, from the account.
If you'd like assistance, you can access our Chatbot Assistant Buzz in the bottom-right corner of this article or visit the Help page in your account.
Can I transfer just one publication and keep others in my workspace?
Yes. If you own multiple workspaces and want to move a specific publication from one to another, you can do so without affecting the other publications in your workspace. When submitting your transfer request, specify which publication(s) you want to transfer by name. Any publications not listed in the request will remain in the original workspace.
You can transfer publications between your own workspaces or to a workspace owned by someone else. Each scenario follows the verification process outlined in the corresponding section above.