Feminist site Jezebel to be revived after sale

Image source, Getty Images

  • Author, Natalie Sherman
  • Role, Business reporter, New York

Feminist news site Jezebel, which was shut down earlier this month, has been sold to a new owner.

Paste Media, known for its music coverage, said it had taken on the brand and planned to relaunch soon.

It marks the latest revival for a site that started in 2007 as part of the Gawker empire and in the interim has had several owners.

The latest, private equity owned G/O Media, had blamed "economic headwinds" when announcing the closure.

At the time, chief executive Jim Spanfeller said the company had spoken to more than two dozen potential buyers without success but that he still hoped a deal could happen.

"We have been working on the sale of Jezebel for months and are delighted that the site has found a new home," Mr Spanfeller said in a statement.

The demise of Jezebel after 16 years had drawn tributes and mourning from those who credited the blog with helping to develop the sharp, personal tone that came to characterise many new digital publications.

The New York Times first reported the sale.

Josh Jackson, the founding editor-in-chief of Paste and its president, told the newspaper that "the idea of there not being a Jezebel right now just didn't seem to make sense".

"When I found out it had been shuttered, I jumped at the opportunity to help bring it back to life," he said in a statement to the 麻豆社.

Terms of the all-cash deal for the brand - which does not currently have any staff - were not disclosed.

"We need to hire an editor-in-chief and they need to hire great editors and writers," Mr Jackson said. "We hope to start publishing new stories very, very soon."

Paste also purchased Splinter, a political news site that G/O shut down in 2019.

The turmoil for Jezebel comes as changes in online advertising, where spending is increasingly going to tech giants such as Amazon, Google and Meta, have wreaked havoc on many media businesses, big and small.

Paste was founded by Mr Jackson with friends in the Atlanta area more than two decades ago.

The magazine was acquired by Wolfgang, a music company in 2011, and is now entirely digital.

"We've weathered all kinds of changes in the media landscape and we're still here," Mr Jackson said.

"I'm confident we can be a stable home for Jezebel, a site that's averaged more than three million users a month this year."