Jezebel Shutting Down, Parent Company G/O Media Laying Off 23 Staffers

variety.com:

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor After more than 16 years, Jezebel, the sharp-edged feminist news and opinion website, is shutting down.

Originally launched in 2007 by Gawker Media, Jezebel — which carried the tagline “Sex. Celebrity. Politics. With Teeth” — is being shuttered by current owner G/O Media, after an unsuccessful attempt to sell the site.

In addition, G/O Media editorial director Merrill Brown is leaving the company after less than a year as part of a company restructuring. “As of this week we are making the very, very difficult decision to suspend publication of Jezebel,” G/O Media CEO Jim Spanfeller wrote in a memo to staff Thursday announcing the shutdown. “Few decisions over the course of my career have been as excruciating, and I want to make clear this is in NO WAY a reflection on the Jezebel editorial team.” The shutdown of Jezebel and the G/O Media editorial restructuring will result in a layoff of 23 editorial staffers (including the Jezebel team), Spanfeller wrote in the memo, adding that “Over the longer term we will be adding new positions with updated or perhaps new goals in mind.” “Unfortunately, our business model and the audiences we serve across our network did not align with Jezebel’s,” Spanfeller wrote in the memo. “And when that became clear, we undertook an expansive search for a new, perhaps better home that might ensure Jezebel a path forward.

It became a personal mission of Lea Goldman [G/O Media deputy editorial director], who worked tirelessly on the project, talking with over two dozen potential buyers.