Embattled Website The Messenger Loses President and Will Reportedly Lay Off Dozens of Staffers
Digital news start-up The Messenger will reportedly lay off some two dozen employees as it loses its president and embarks on a second round of fundraising.
The political and general-interest news site launched in May of last year with grand ambitions of fast growth and announced it would hire some 500 journalists at a time when the industry has been hemorrhaging jobs.
New York Times media reporter Benjamin Mullin cited an anonymous source at the company while reporting on the upcoming layoffs, noting that staff had yet to be informed. “The company is facing financial headwinds in a tough digital ad market that have put a squeeze on its operations,” the source told Mullin, who added the company has been facing “dwindling cash reserves.”
The Messenger told the Times in a statement that it was “in the midst of a second-round raise” to meet its financial needs, but did not address any plans for layoffs.
The Messenger, founded by veteran media mogul Jimmy Finkelstein, hired some 300 employees based out of New York, DC, and LA – often at above-market salaries.
The Messenger launched with a goal of hitting 100 million monthly readers, which would make it one of the largest digital news sites in the country. But SimilarWeb currently ranks it outside of the top 100.
One of Finkelstein’s key hires, former Conde Nast executive Richard Beckman, announced on Tuesday he would be leaving his role as president of The Messenger for health reasons. Beckman reportedly told employees in October that the site was “out of money.”
“Back in November, I had advised Jimmy Finkelstein of my decision to step down based on short-term health issues I have endured this past year and will be subsequently retiring from the corporate world at the end of this month,” Beckman wrote on LinkedIn.
“I will be helping with the transition this next few weeks then watching and cheering from the sidelines as my colleagues continue to pursue, with great passion, their noble mission to bring balance back to the newsroom,” he added.
