Yesterday, The Messenger — the floundering digital outlet founded by Jimmy Finkelstein — announced it was ceasing operations immediately. Unfortunately for employees of the outlet, they found out through media reports on the situation.
Both Max Tani of Semafor and Benjamin Mullin of The New York Times reported Wednesday afternoon that the outlet would be closing its doors that day. These reports followed speculation from Axios about the outlet’s future after some employees had received a second paycheck on the final day of the month that was labeled as payouts for unused vacation time.
In Tani’s report on the situation, he revealed the outlet would be ceasing operations and that leadership had yet to inform staffers.
Editor-in-Chief Dan Wakeford reportedly told employees that he didn’t know the company was closing, saying “I am not in the loop. Trying to find out now,” in the company’s Slack channel when pressed for answers by employees.
After The Messenger confirmed to employees it would be shuttering, some took to social media to share their displeasure with how they found out about the demise.
According to Mullin, The Messenger attempted a last-minute merger with the Los Angeles Times that failed to materialize, leading to its shuttering.
