Gothamist Site Rescued by Public Radio After Ricketts Folded It
Gothamist Site Rescued by Public Radio After Ricketts Folded It
(Bloomberg) -- WNYC, the public radio station in New York, is acquiring Gothamist nearly four months after the local news website was shut down by billionaire Joe Ricketts.
The purchase was funded largely by two anonymous donors, according to a statement Friday by WNYC. Gothamist published local news in New York and other cities through websites such as Chicagoist and LAist. As part of the deal, two other public radio stations -- KPCC in Southern California and WAMU in Washington -- will take over LAist and DCist, respectively.
Financial terms weren’t disclosed.
Gothamist, which chronicled the daily grind of city life in the Big Apple, shut down in November, along with neighborhood news site DNAinfo, in the latest sign of struggle for online media. Ricketts, who founded the online brokerage service TD Ameritrade and backed President Donald Trump, attributed the decision to the costs involved in operating the site. Some observers saw the move as retribution for a vote by the editorial staffs to unionize.
To contact the reporter on this story: Gerry Smith in New York at gsmith233@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Crayton Harrison at tharrison5@bloomberg.net, Mark Schoifet, Rob Golum
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