Jezebel website shuts down as parent company G/O Media hit with major layoffs

CEO Jim Spanfeller praised Jezebel’s coverage of reproductive rights post-Roe in a memo sent to staff

G/O Media has officially shut down feminist website Jezebel, as the media company is hit with a round of layoffs.

In a memo sent to staff on Thursday obtained by The Independent, CEO Jim Spanfeller confirmed that the female-driven news outlet will be suspended permanently. “As of this week we are making the very, very difficult decision to suspend publication of Jezebel,” he wrote to employees. “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.”

He continued: “Unfortunately, our business model and the audiences we serve across our network did not align with Jezebel’s. And when that became clear, we undertook an expansive search for a new, perhaps better home that might ensure Jezebel a path forward.”

The company was reportedly unable to find a buyer for Jezebel, as Spanfeller noted that editorial director Lea Goldman met with “over two dozen potential buyers” but “could not find Jez a new home”.

In the memo, he praised Jezebel’s dedication to covering reproductive rights following the Supreme Court overturning of Roe v Wade in 2022. “Their urgent, breakthrough coverage of reproductive rights in this post-Roe era, as well as other key issues core to modern women, affirmed the brand’s storied legacy as the website that changed women’s media forever,” Spanfeller said. “With the suspension of Jezebel’s operations, we must unfortunately part ways with their incredibly talented editorial staff. I want to thank the site’s team, both past and present, for their dedication, fearless voices, and indelible contributions to our culture. You changed the game.”

In addition to shutting down the feminist news site, the company is also laying off 23 editorial staffers across its properties. According to Will Sommer, media reporter for The Washington Post, Jezebel staffers have already been kicked off the company-wide Slack messaging service, as well as email.

Jezebel was founded by writer Anna Holmes in 2007 under the Gawker Media umbrella. Holmes launched Jezebel as a way to better serve Gawker.com’s female readership, and it soon became an influential feminist voice covering modern-day women’s issues. Jezebel was later sold to Univision Communications in August 2016 after its acquisition of Gawker Media, before becoming part of G/O Media in 2019.

Last October, Axios reported that Jezebel was optioned off to buyers at several media outlets, including BDG, HollywoodLife, and Dear Media. Editor-in-chief Laura Bassett resigned from Jezebel in August, as she took a swipe at G/O Media’s management in a resignation letter obtained byThe Daily Beast.

“If I’m not allowed to replace my deputy editor, give any of my writers raises or promotions ever for the great work they do, or fill any of the half dozen open writer slots I’ve had for a year, it’s clear that any pathway for growth I had here has been deliberately cut off and that I’ve done all I can do to make this site what it could be given reasonable resources,” she wrote.

Bassett, who took over as Jezebel editor-in-chief in September 2021, is the seventh head editor across G/O Media’s 10 websites to quit over the last eight months.

The shutting down of Jezebel comes amid a year of massive layoffs in the journalism industry. Vice Media Group has undergone a second round of layoffs this year alone, after laying off staff in April and filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in May. Meanwhile, BuzzFeed News experienced its own shut down in April, as parent company Buzzfeed announced it was slashing 15 per cent of its workforce.