Paste Magazine Acquires Jezebel From G/O Media

The independent music and entertainment publisher Paste Magazine has agreed to acquire the feminist title Jezebel from G/O Media in an all-cash deal, according to Paste editor in chief and president Josh Jackson. Paste financed the deal without raising outside capital, although the publisher wouldn't share further financial specifics. Jezebel was not profitable, according to two sources familiar with its finances. The acquisition comes two weeks after G/O Media, which houses an array of editorial titles including Deadspin, Kotaku and Quartz, announced that it was shutting Jezebel after it failed to find a buyer for the publisher. “We came into this because we thought Jezebel was worth saving,” Jackson said. “We wanted to see it survive in a healthy, stable way and provide the support for Jezebel to do what it does best.” The New York Times first reported the news of the acquisition. Jezebel will resume publishing within the next few days, and Paste plans to rehire as many former staff as it can afford to, according to Jackson. It has already brought back one former employee, but Paste has not chosen an editor in chief for the brand. The famously acerbic feminist publisher, which covered topics including abortion rights, celebrity and politics with a humorous bite, will return as a standalone website. Jezebel and Paste will link to each other and highlight content relevant to both audiences, but for the most part, Jezebel will retain its signature voice, style and subject matter, according to Jackson. Paste operated out of Atlanta, with studios in the city and in New York, until the pandemic. Since then, it has functioned as an entirely remote organization. The publisher employs roughly seven full-time employees, eight part-time staff and works with a rotating cast of more than 70 freelance writers, according to Jackson. G/O Media Shutters Jezebel, Lays Off Staff and Editorial Director Merrill Brown Paste launched in 1998 and is now entirely digital. It generates all of its revenue through advertising—mostly through open-exchange programmatic—and is sporadically profitable. The publisher declined to share commercial specifics. Its YouTube channel, which mostly features studio performances from musicians, has attracted nearly 600,000 subscribers and is the main source of its brand partnership revenue, according to Jackson. Navigating brand safety concerns When Jezebel shuttered, a number of reports pointed to the divisive nature of its reporting as a key factor in the closure. Brand safety issues have consistently plagued the news media industry for the last decade, as advertisers have implemented keyword blocklists to prevent their ads from running alongside content they consider inappropriate. Jezebel, which covers issues like reproductive rights and frequently skewers its ideological opponents, often ran afoul of these brand safety measures. Parent company G/O Media struggled to convince advertisers to run media alongside its content, and sales staff reportedly requested to remove the Jezebel tagline—Sex. Celebrity. Politics. With Teeth—from the site. (It has since been removed.) According to Jackson, Paste has no intention of defanging Jezebel to sell ads. Instead, the publisher intends to find brands whose aim is to reach the passionate Jezebel audience. “Jez is going to do stories on abortion rights, and it’s going to commission whimsical illustrations of Disney penises,” Jackson said. “There is not going to be great ad-fill on those pages, and that is fine. We want advertisers who believe in the brand and the audience, and people are going to appreciate advertisers who support it.” Paste has no immediate plans to tweak the commercial strategy of Jezebel, although it has yet to fully evaluate every potentiality, according to Jackson. The media company does plan to reintroduce events, which Jezebel used to host. “Paste and Jezebel will help each other in being two independent places that are full of writing that comes from a place of passion and authenticity,” Jackson said. “We want the world to know that Jezebel is not dead.”

Merger & Acquisition News

Paste Magazine Acquires Jezebel From G/O Media in All-Cash Deal

Despite brand safety concerns, the publisher believes advertisers will want to reach the Jezebel audience

Mark Stenberg

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