Jezebel is resurrected by Paste Magazine

Jezebel, the famous feminist website, will return less than a month after its closure.

Paste magazinea music and culture store, acquired Jezebel on Tuesday and planned to resume publishing on the site on Wednesday, said Josh Jackson, co-founder and editor-in-chief of Paste.

“The idea that there wouldn’t be a Jezebel at this point just didn’t seem logical,” Mr. Jackson said.

Once part of the Gawker universe of websites, Jezebel brought a brash new brand of internet writing to feminist issues when it launched in 2007, paving the way for a generation of like-minded media. In 2019, private equity firm Great Hill Partners bought Jezebel as part of what is now G/O Media, a portfolio of digital news outlets including Gizmodo, Deadspin and The Root.

But on November 9, G/O Media CEO Jim Spanfeller said Jezebel would close and 23 people would be laid off due to “economic headwinds.”

“Unfortunately, our business model and the audience we serve through our network did not align with Jezebel’s,” he wrote in the memo to staff.

The closure of the website was requested numerous obituaries outlining Jezebel’s impact on the internet and culture.

Mr. Spanfeller added in his note that G/O Media had spoken to more than 20 potential buyers of Jezebel but had not reached a deal. Mr Jackson said he had not considered buying the site until he heard about its closure. As part of the deal, Paste also bought Splinter, the political news website that G/O Media closed in 2019.

Mr. Jackson declined to comment on how much his company paid for the two locations, although he said it was an all-cash deal. The everyday beast previously reported that a handful of buyers were interested in reviving the website.

“We have been working on the sale of Jezebel for months and are pleased that it has found a new home,” Mr. Spanfeller said in a statement.

Mr. Jackson said neither Jezebel nor Splinter had employees, so he wanted to first find an editor-in-chief for Jezebel and then hire writers.

“I’ve been talking to some former Jezebel people,” he said.

Mr. Jackson and two friends started Paste in Atlanta in 1998. It operated as a print music magazine from 2002 to 2010, when it went digital-only. Paste was acquired in 2011 by the music store Wolfgang’s Vault, now known as Wolfgang’s. The magazine is 100 percent advertising supported.

“We’ve been through all the different changes in the media landscape and stayed independent. We survived and thought, ‘Hey, maybe we can do this with other sites,'” he said.

Mr Jackson said his hope for Jezebel was “to bring all the best from all eras” to the website. He referenced the original tagline (“Sex. Celebrity. Politics. With Teeth.”) and said one of the first things he wanted to bring back was “with teeth.”

“I want them to push the boundaries,” Mr. Jackson said. “I think there are advertisers who have the courage to go where the audience is.”

“I consider it the ultimate site for millennial women who grew up here, and it’s a site that taught them what they can become,” he added. “And I want the same thing for Gen Z, and bringing in Gen Z votes.”

As for Splinter, Mr. Jackson said he planned to relaunch that website in 2024 and have it “ready for a very important political year.”