Our Adieu to Jezebel Was Short-Lived

UPDATE Nov 29, 2023 8:43 AM CST

The rumors began last week that multiple bidders had "come out of the woodwork" to resurrect Jezebel, the feminist website shuttered by G/O Media earlier this month, per the Daily Beast. Now, one of those bidders has emerged victorious. The New York Times reports that music and culture outlet Paste Magazine acquired the former Gawker Media property on Tuesday, with new content set to reappear on the site as early as Wednesday, according to Josh Jackson, Paste's co-founder and editor-in-chief. "The idea of there not being a Jezebel right now just didn't seem to make sense," Jackson says. He didn't elaborate on the price tag for Jezebel, but he did note it was an all-cash deal that also included the site Splinter, which G/O Media shut down in 2019. Jackson says he's already reached out to ex-Jezebel staffers in search of a new EIC and writers. Splinter will be relaunched in 2024.

Nov 10, 2023 12:30 AM CST

After 16 years of providing sharp feminist commentary on the news of the day, from politics to gossip, Jezebel won't be publishing any more descriptions of former President Trump. Parent company G/O Media announced Thursday the site was shutting down effective immediately, and the latest articles on the site were posted Wednesday night. Twenty-three editorial staffers, including the entire Jezebel team, were laid off. Former senior writer Kady Ruth Ashcraft tells the New York Times they were called into a meeting with human resources Thursday morning and given the bad news; she says the site had recently been operating with a "skeleton crew." Axios reported late last month the site was for sale, but in its memo to staff announcing the shutdown, G/O Media says no buyer could be found, Variety reports.

"As of this week we are making the very, very difficult decision to suspend publication of Jezebel," G/O Media's CEO wrote in the memo. "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." Multiple former staffers, including the former editor-in-chief who resigned in August due to what she said was poor treatment of the Jezebel staff by G/O Media, described themselves on social media as very angry, and noted they might say more later; WGA East members at Jezebel released a statement blaming the shuttering on G/O Media's "strategic and commercial ineptitude." Jezebel started as part of Gawker Media, was part of Gizmodo Media Group after Gawker shuttered, and ended up under G/O's umbrella when G/O purchased Gizmodo Media Group. (More Jezebel stories.)