The Messenger, a digital media company founded less than a year ago, will soon shut down, according to multiple reports.
news of Startup plans are canceled The decision was first reported Wednesday by The New York Times, citing people familiar with the decision.
The Hill reached out to a representative for the store.
Last spring, founder Jimmy Finkelstein, who previously owned The Hill, spoke to the Times and other media outlets. his vision for the messenger He described it as a “hybrid between the Washington Post and the Daily Mail.”
Finkelstein said at the time that he wanted to offer choice to online news consumers looking for an alternative to mainstream media such as CNN and the nation’s major newspapers.
“I feel that bias in the news is not about what people are reporting, but what they’re not reporting,” he says. “So the problem is really not one of commission, but one of omission.”
Mr. Finkelstein and his longtime business partner, President Richard Beckman, have promised to hire hundreds of journalists and generate $100 million in revenue through advertising and events.
But by the end of last year, Messenger had earned just $3 million and had just $1.8 million in cash on hand, the Times reported.
after outlet Staff reductions were implemented. The company announced earlier this month that Finkelstein was planning to raise another round of funding to help keep the company afloat.
Journalists working for news organizations started posting online. About being fired On Wednesday, he wrote that he learned of the store’s demise through news reports.
Messenger is just the latest in a number of media companies to be forced to take drastic cost-cutting measures and scale back expansion plans as news providers grapple with tough advertising markets and changing consumer habits.
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