The Messenger, once touted as the news site which could shake up the media industry with a playbook borrowed from the doomed news start-ups of yesteryear, is shutting down less than a year after its launch. In the most unpleasant of fashions, The Messenger’s staff discovered their workplace was shutting after less than a year from media outlets first before a notification from the higher-ups.
Then, The Messenger’s employees had their accounts deactivated shortly after 1 pm PST on Wednesday with no reasonable explanation, resulting in total chaos in the office. Even Dan Wakeford, the editor-in-chief, has no idea what’s going on as he stated: “I am not in the loop. Trying to find out now,” after employees asked if there would be any update from management.
Unfortunately, the news they got in reply was sorrowful as founder and CEO of The Messenger, Jimmy Finkelstein, emailed his staff that his efforts to try and secure the publisher’s future by raising capital were unsuccessful, thus leading to the shutting down of the company.
“Over the past few weeks, literally until today, we exhausted every option available and have endeavoured to raise sufficient capital to reach profitability. Unfortunately, we have been unable to do so, which is why we haven’t shared the news with you until now. It is truly the last thing I wanted, and I am deeply sorry,” he said in the email
The Messenger’s Staff Will Not Receive Severance and Health Insurance Claims
In addition to their dismissal, The Messenger’s staff have claimed that the company will not pay any severance fee and have cancelled their health insurance benefits. Naturally, the decision sparked widespread fury from the employees, as they were already furious with Finkelstein for not alerting them before social media outlets covered that the company was shutting down.
Senior writer and critic Jordan Hoffman expressed his feelings on the decision as he posted a dramatic message from one of the employees. “The last thing I saw in The Messenger’s Slack was a panicked colleague writing “Wait, what about our insurance coverage?! I have a surgery booked — and then we all got booted out!!!”
Another writer named Adrian Carrasquillo also made his feelings known on X as he wrote: “How unfortunate to learn The Messenger would shut down via the New York Times. I am saddened because so many journalists did great work, particularly the stellar politics team I worked with. We consistently broke news, were on the trail, and made a name for the organisation. Just a week ago, I had this big scoop below — many of my colleagues did the same often,” as he highlighted their coverage of the Republican National Committee shuttering Hispanic community centres.
The Messenger’s Fall From Grace
Launched in May 2023 by Finkelstein with a whopping $50 million in funding, The Messenger was to introduce a vital new nonpartisan voice to the American news landscape. To achieve this, Finkelstein hired around 300 people, including journalists with experience at such publications as Politico, Reuters, NBC News and The Associated Press.
Moreover, Finkelstein hinted at his grandiose ambitions by telling The New York Times in March last year that he wanted the website to recall great journalism institutions like 60 Minutes and Vanity Fair while criticising CNN and Fox News for inconsistent coverage. Richard Beckman, The Messenger’s president, even stated they would hire 550 journalists within a year, matching publishers such as The Los Angeles Times and generating $50 million in 2023.
However, it was all a farce and illusion, as The Messenger lost about $38 million, only generated $3 million and had just $1.8 million in cash on hand near the end of last year. Furthermore, Beckman announced his departure from the company, citing health issues, and the company continued its downward slope by cutting staff and reducing wages. Eventually, the money ran out, and The Messenger became one of the biggest busts in the annals of online news.
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Where Did The Messenger’s Failed?
After its launch to make readers “fall in love” with the media again, things rapidly turned sour as tensions flared in the company. For example, Gregg Birnbaum, a well-regarded politics editor, quit after clashing with The Messenger’s chief growth officer, Neetzan Zimmerman. The company’s employees also verbally stated that they grew tired of demands to mass-produce stories based on competitors’ articles as the site received criticism from Columbia Journalism Review and Nieman Lab.
Another outside factor that affected the company’s ambition relied on tech companies like Google and Meta to generate traffic and engagement. However, since Meta’s Facebook has moved away from news content, ending partnerships with outlets and banning Canadian users from sharing news over a law that requires tech firms to pay fees to news organisations, even their leading platform for exposure ceased to exist. S. Mitra Kalita, the founder of Epicenter-NYC and URL Media, agreed as she stated: “The Messenger was built off the expertise of an internet that no longer exists. Facebook was never going to surface its links no matter how clickable those headlines were.”
Media is one of the toughest businesses. No one can claim to have the formula to build a credible high-engaging news platform that’s also profitable. Ad-based revenue or subscription-only model, both have worked and haven’t worked at the same time. However, some platforms have survived the ever-changing landscape by only persistence.
Building a large readership, including a loyal user base, takes a bit of time. In the case of The Messenger, the platform should have persisted with a relatively lean team. Probably, it could have looked at the technology to automate mundane stuff. It also failed to diversify its content which could have helped boost presence. Last month, TechCrunch laid off several employees. There are reports the company will also shut down its subscription model.
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