The Messenger‚ a digital news startup that launched with $50 million in funding‚ ceased operations after eight months. The Associated Press reports that founder Jimmy Finkelstein sent an email about the shutdown to employees‚ which led to roughly 300 workers being laid off. The website removed all its content and now displays the name and a general email address.  With The Messenger’s sudden shut down‚ the outlet becomes the latest media outlet to experience mass layoffs. Online news site The Messenger shuts down after less than a year https://t.co/m3CnT4mzCx — The Associated Press (@AP) February 1‚ 2024 From the Associated Press: In his email‚ Finkelstein said he hadn’t shared the news with employees earlier because he had been trying desperately to raise enough funds to become profitable “literally until earlier today.” “We exhausted every option available‚” Finkelstein wrote‚ saying he was “personally devastated.” The Messenger website carried only its name and an email address Wednesday night. Finkelstein noted in his email that “economic headwinds have left many media companies fighting for survival.” Indeed‚ The Messenger’s collapse follows large-scale layoffs by once-powerful and influential outlets‚ including the Los Angeles Times‚ which cut its newsroom staff by 20% last week‚ as well as Sports Illustrated and Business Insider. Planned cuts also have sparked walkouts by employees at other venues‚ including the New York Daily News and Forbes magazine. The Messenger was launched last May and spent heavily — some would say excessively‚ given the current media climate — in hopes of becoming a media heavyweight. According to Just the News‚ at least one journalist said he learned of his termination through other news sites. Getting The Message | News Start-Up The Messenger Shuts Down | At least one journalist with the outlet confirmed his layoff on Wednesday‚ indicating he learned of his termination through other news sites… https://t.co/tua6pQmTs5 — Just the News (@JustTheNews) February 1‚ 2024 “I just got laid off. One would expect to learn this news from their employer but instead‚ @TheMessenger employees learned of it via @nytimes and @semafor – there is no severance. Healthcare will cease. I have to go clean out my desk from the DC office‚” James LaPorta wrote. I just got laid off. One would expect to learn this news from their employer but instead‚ @TheMessenger employees learned of it via @nytimes and @semafor – there is no severance. Healthcare will cease. I have to go clean out my desk from the DC office. — James LaPorta (@JimLaPorta) January 31‚ 2024 Axios reported The Messenger is not offering any severance to its employees. “Unfortunately‚ as a new company‚ we encountered even more significant challenges than others and could not survive those headwinds‚” Finkelstein said in the staff memo. Axios reports: The Messenger was founded by Finkelstein in 2023‚ two years after he sold The Hill — a Beltway-based print and digital publication co-founded by Finkelstein’s father in 1994 — to Nexstar for $130 million. Finkelstein had previously co-founded a media holding group that purchased outlets like Adweek‚ Billboard and The Hollywood Reporter from Nielsen in 2009. The Messenger hired 300 people across a few short months and paid them above market wage. The Messenger was built on the flawed premise that a big‚ generic news audience has value. It doesn’t anymore. Social media giants — eager to get out of the news business — no longer distribute traffic for free to news sites‚ forcing most news companies to rely on search traffic‚ which takes time to grow‚ or buying visitors. The deprecation of third-party tracking cookies has put a premium on monetizing smaller‚ more loyal audiences with first-party data. A broader slowdown in the ad market has made subscriptions a critical revenue stream in addition to advertising. The Messenger sold mostly automated digital ads at scale using third-party data. It also sold event sponsorships.