The Daily Beast Roars On

“The Daily Beast is not for sale and is not closing,” Rhona Murphy, interim CEO of The Daily Beast, told the staff today in an internal memo. “IAC has approved in concept the operating budget for 2014.” The Daily Beast averages more than 15 million unique visitors a month, according to Omniture, and traffic is up 22 percent this year alone. “I want to extol Tina Brown. She created the Beast in 2008 from a blank page, and from the beginning until today it has grown in circulation and brand recognition, even throughout the two unfortunate Newsweek years,” said IAC Chairman Barry Diller. “If you removed the failed experiment to revive Newsweek, the story of The Daily Beast is one of excellence in reporting, in design, and in digital distribution. That to me is the lede of her tenure. That she chose, and she did, to leave the Beast, with all the attendant media judging, should not obscure her truly outstanding work as the editor and creator over the last five years at The Daily Beast.” In the coming months, The Daily Beast will undergo a design refresh overseen by chief digital officer Mike Dyer. “The Daily Beast continues to grow at a robust rate and we are committed to bringing the business into a new era of strength and stability,” said managing director Deidre Depke. Launched in October of 2008, The Daily Beast won back-to-back Webby Awards for best news site in 2012 and 2013, beating out competition from NYTimes.com, NPR.org, BBC News, and The Huffington Post. “The Daily Beast roars on,” said executive editor John Avlon. “Our great team of writers and reporters keeps The Daily Beast on the cutting edge of digital news, delivering print quality at web speed. Our readers demand to be informed and refuse to be bored.”