Paste Magazine, a digital pop culture publication based in
Atlanta, announced Wednesday that it was buying Jezebel.com from G/O Media,
which closed it and laid off its staff earlier this month.
Jezebel’s “acquisition means that the critical information
and content that Jezebel readers have come to rely on will live on,” Paste
Founder and Editor-in-Chief Josh Jackson said in a prepared statement.
“Jezebel’s unique voice and commitment to storytelling make it a perfect
addition to our portfolio.”
G/0 Media said it was shutting down Jezebel after trying
unsuccessfully for months to find a buyer for the site, which was first
launched in 2007 by Gawker Media and swiftly gained an impassioned following
with its combination of searing commentary on gender politics and edgy pop
culture coverage.
Jackson told The Associated Press via email that Paste
became interested in buying Jezebel the day after it shut down and moved
quickly to secure the all-cash deal. He said the site will start publishing
again as early as this week. He said Paste is searching for a new
editor-in-chief and talking to other job candidates, prioritizing Jezebel’s
former staffers. The acquisition was first reported by The New York Times.
“It took us a day to realize we could be the ones to bring
it back from the dead,” Jackson said. “But it was important that we do a deal
quickly and get the site back up and running so the devoted audience would
still be there.”
Along with political issues like abortion, Jezebel became
known for its takedowns of celebrity culture and the fashion industries that
helped make subjects like “body shaming” and “rape culture” part of the
national discourse. Like many other digital publications, however, Jezebel
struggled in recent years to find a sustainable business model as digital
advertising plummeted.
Jezebel became part of the G/0 Media portfolio in 2019.
Tensions with the parent company’s leadership preceded its shutdown, which
Jezebel writers blamed on G/0 Media’s failure to look for a revenue model more
suitable to to the site’s mission and audience.
G/0 Media, which also owns Gizmodo, Quartz, the Onion and
the Root, said it closed Jezebel as part of a restructuring to cope with
economic headwinds and a difficult digital advertising environment. G/0 Media
CEO Jim Spanfeller also said it had become clear that the parent company’s
“business model and the audiences we serve across our network did not align
with Jezebel’s.” But he also said he had not given up on the idea that Jezebel
would find a new home and relaunch.
“We have been working on the sale of Jezebel for months and
are delighted that the site has found a new home,” Spanfeller said in a
prepared statement. -AP