Paste magazine said this week that it has acquired Jezebel, the feminist publication that shut down earlier this month, and that it has plans to start publishing again as soon as Wednesday.
“The idea of there not being a Jezebel right now just didn’t seem to make sense,” Josh Jackson, a co-founder and the editor-in-chief of Paste, told The New York Times on Wednesday.
In early November, G/O Media shut down Jezebel and laid off its entire staff of 23 people, citing “economic headwinds.” G/O Media tried to sell the site, but initially couldn’t reach a deal with any potential buyers.
“It is truly a privilege for us to reintroduce Jezebel to its dedicated audience,” Jackson said in a comment to HuffPost. “Upon learning of its closure, we acted promptly to prevent a prolonged hiatus, ensuring that the devoted Jezebel community quickly regains their online home.”
Jackson told the Times that he hadn’t considered buying Jezebel until it was shut down. As part of the deal, Paste also bought Splinter, a politics-focused G/O Media site that closed down in 2019.
Jim Spanfeller, CEO of G/O Media, said in a statement to HuffPost: “We have been working on the sale of Jezebel for months and are delighted that the site has found a new home.”
Jackson told the Times he is working on finding an editor-in-chief for Jezebel and then plans to hire writers, and that he wants “to bring all of the best things from all of the eras” of the site, which launched in 2007.
Jezebel’s first tagline was “Sex. Celebrity. Politics. With Teeth.” The publication said in a 2007 piece that it aimed to provide insight and meaning into the “sweet stuff” directed at women, and to take “the serious stuff” and make it “more fun, or more personal.”
“I want them to push the boundaries,” Jackson told the Times. “I think there are advertisers out there who have the courage to go to where the audience is.”
Laura Bassett, former editor-in-chief of Jezebel and a former HuffPost reporter, resigned from the site in August, saying “the company that owned us refused to treat my staff with basic human decency.”
CORRECTION: An earlier version of this article stated that Jezebel shuttered last month. It closed in early November.