Jezebel was indefinitely suspended on Thursday as major layoffs hit G/O Media, The Daily Beast has learned.
The layoffs will affect 23 people, CEO Jim Spanfeller confirmed in a memo to staff on Thursday, and G/O Media editorial director Merrill Brown has also exited the company.
“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, who worked tirelessly on the project, talking with over two dozen potential buyers. It is a testament to Jezebel’s heritage and bonafides that so many players engaged us. Still, despite every effort, we could not find Jez a new home.”
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Jezebel was founded by writer Anna Holmes in 2007 under the Gawker umbrella. It was later sold to Univision in 2016 following Gawker’s shutdown before becoming part of G/O Media portfolio upon its launch in 2019.
Spanfeller praised the women’s culture-focused outlet for its coverage of reproductive rights following the Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade last year and said he had not “given up” on Jezebel. However, the company will let go of the website’s editorial staff.
“Media is nothing if not resilient. So are its practitioners,” he wrote. “I will keep you apprised if circumstances change.”
Jezebel employees were informed of the shutdown during a meeting Wednesday morning, a staffer impacted by the shuttering told The Daily Beast, and they immediately lost access to their Slack and Google email accounts afterward.
“We are devastated though hardly surprised at G/O Media and Jim Spanfeller’s inability to run our website and their cruel decision to shutter it. Jezebel has been a pillar of fearless journalism and important cultural commentary since 2007 and made an indelible mark on the media landscape,” the Writers Guild of America-East, which represents G/O Media staffers, said in a statement, adding: “A well-run company would have moved away from an advertising model, but instead they are shuttering the brand entirely because of their strategic and commercial ineptitude. Jezebel was a good website.”
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Axios reported last month that G/O had spoken to potential buyers such as Bustle owner BDG, HollywoodLife owner Factz, and Dear Media, a podcasting company that focuses on women’s stories.
According to the newly laid-off employee, G/O Media deputy editorial director Lea Goldman had reassured Jezebel staffers in recent weeks that Spanfeller was not looking to shutter the site, especially after the Axios report.
Goldman briefly addressed the staff in Thursday morning’s meeting, the source relayed, quickly announcing that the site would be suspended before handing the call off to a human-resources official and allegedly exiting the call.
“I overall think this was handled in a way that unfortunately felt more than a little insulting, given what now were clearly false reassurances a few weeks ago, an uncomfortable lack of transparency around the possible sale prospect, and then the nature of the meeting,” this now-ex staffer told The Daily Beast, speaking on condition of anonymity out of fear of professional reprisals. “I understand there’s no good way to do it, but saying a couple sentences and then leaving before addressing anything was hurtful and disappointing and dismissive.”
Following the news of Jezebel’s shuttering, the site’s former editor-in-chief Laura Bassett, who exited in August, wrote on Twitter: “I’m obviously boiling and have too much to say on this subject. But for now I’ll just say my heart is with the entire Jez staff who just got laid off, including incredible abortion reporters at a time when the beat couldn’t be more relevant to national politics.”
G/O Media has been rollicked by turmoil across its various publications this year, which include outlets such as Gizmodo, Jezebel, The Root, and Kotaku. It announced over the summer its plans to publish stories generated by AI, which resulted in stories that included false information that angered staffers across its verticals. The company, however, has continued its embrace of automation, shedding staffers at Gizmodo en Español in favor of automated translations.
It has also seen an exodus of top editors, with editors-in-chief at all of the aforementioned publications leaving within the last year alone.
Some staffers have also brought their concerns public. The Root’s entire editorial staff filed a grievance with the company over the summer over frustrations with their current editor in chief, alleging she fostered an environment rife with discrimination and abuse. Both sides had filed—and later dropped—unfair labor practice charges with the National Labor Relations Board, and the grievance is still being processed.
“I want to assure all that we remain committed to being a leader in the digital media space,” Spanfeller wrote in his memo. “There has never been a more urgent need for authoritative, credible news, reviews and commentary. Audiences demand and deserve it. And we intend to deliver.”
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