Massive Digital News Startup The Messenger Is Reportedly ‘Out Of Money’ Already
The Messenger is reportedly in dire financial straits, according to a report in The Daily Beast’s Confider newsletter on Monday.
Launched in May, The Messenger went on a hiring binge offering salaries well above the average in the digital media industry. The publication has been beset by problems from the beginning when several key editors quit by the end of the first month.
According to Confider, employees are concerned about their futures at the company, whose president, Richard Beckman, reportedly told Messenger employees the company is “out of money”:
Growing increasingly anxious over the financial health of The Messenger, staffers at the “non-partisan” media start-up have quietly been pushing to unionize the newsroom while urging management to hold a town hall to address their myriad concerns, multiple people familiar with the situation told Confider. Among the issues employees would like to see addressed, sources noted, are the outlet’s recent partnership with an AI firm, The Messenger president Richard “Mad Dog” Beckman’s suggestion to others that the site is “out of money,” and the internal secrecy over the site’s traffic. Additionally, employees wonder why editor-in-chief Dan Wakeford continues to be MIA, especially with the increased bumps in the road for the site, noting that owner Jimmy Finkelstein has taken to regularly sending editors story ideas and tips, a task generally reserved for Wakeford. A Messenger spokesperson, however, contended that Wakeford still “has complete editorial control” and that Finkelstein merely “makes editorial suggestions to the team.”
Regarding the “internal secrecy” about web traffic, the report stated management at The Messenger restricts access to a tool that measures it:
Staffers have also fumed about management tightly guarding access to the site’s Chartbeat, which provides data and analytics on online traffic. According to people familiar with the matter, only senior editors have the ability to see the data, on orders of Finkelstein, prompting concerns that traffic is struggling and ad revenue is tanking, especially since the site still largely relies on low-paying programmatic advertising. Based on Similarweb’s external traffic analysis, The Messenger currently ranks #195 among U.S. news sites, pulling in similar numbers to local Texas news stations.
In May, one editor explained her reason for leaving.
“I was told that this was going to be long-form journalism and all it was was aggregated content and clickbait, and to me, that’s not journalism,” she said.
The Messenger’s stated goals were extremely ambitious. Beckman, who said the company has no cash, predicted to the New York Times in April that the site would generate $100 million in revenue in 2024.
CORRECTION: An earlier version of this article inaccurately stated The Messenger’s president told Confider the company is “out of money.” It has been corrected to reflect that he reportedly said that to Messenger employees.
