Jezebel is coming back from the dead, bought by Paste Magazine

Just 20 days after parent company G/O Media announced the shuttering of feminist publication Jezebel, it looks like the site is getting a new lease on life.

According to a report from The New York Times, the music and entertainment site Paste Magazine acquired Jezebel on Tuesday. Fresh hot takes from Jezebel could begin publishing as early as today. As part of the deal, Paste also purchased Splinter, a left-leaning political news site that was similarly shut down by G/O in 2019.

Josh Jackson, cofounder and editor-in-chief of Paste, told The New York Times that his first order of business will be finding an editor-in-chief for Jezebel, as well as hiring writers. He said that he’s already reached out to a couple of the site’s former employees during his search.

A total of 23 employees were laid off by G/O on November 9, including Jezebel’s entire editorial staff. Merrill Brown, G/O’s editorial director, also departed the company that day. It had already been a rough few months for G/O, which includes other websites under its umbrella such as Gizmodo, Kotaku, and The Root. The company sold its publication Lifehacker in March and let 13 employees go in June. Just a few months later, G/O chief executive Jim Spanfeller informed Jezebel’s editors in a memo that production would stop abruptly.

“Few decisions over the course of my career have been as excruciating, and I want to make clear this is in NO WAY a reflection on the Jezebel editorial team,” Spanfeller wrote.

He also noted in the message that he hadn’t given up on finding a buyer for Jezebel—a promise that he appears to have kept. This isn’t the first time a shuttered publication has risen from the ashes either. After laying off its staff in May, Paper Magazine relaunched this September under the leadership of its former editor-in-chief. The literary criticism magazine Bookforum also returned this year, just months after its much-lamented closure. Gawker, a pop-culture site with a markedly turbulent history, even had a short-lived reboot in 2021, only to shut down for a second time in February.

The announcement of Jezebel’s then-final days earlier this month was followed by outcries from fans, staff, and former writers—many of whom saw the site as a source of representation and an outlet of women’s anger on topics like the #MeToo movement and abortion rights. Jackson said that he wants to bring that edge back to the publication.

“I want them to push the boundaries,” Jackson told The New York Times. “I think there are advertisers out there who have the courage to go to where the audience is.”