Independent news publication The Intercept may be the next media outlet to throw in the towel. The outlet is “running out of cash” according to a story published on Sunday by Semafor. It’s currently hemorrhaging around $300,000 monthly and is on track to have less than $1 million in reserves by November 2023.
The root of the problem lies in the decision by Pierre Omidyar’s First Look Media to terminate its funding for The Intercept in late 2022. First Look Media was The Intercept’s parent company, and it had given the outlet a $14 million grant in 2022. However, with this funding now cut off, The Intercept is struggling to maintain its operations.
While philanthropic contributions have increased from $488,000 in 2022 to $867,000 in 2023, this has not been enough to offset the loss of the Omidyar-backed funding. As a result, The Intercept was forced to let go of 30% of its editorial employees in February, including editor-in-chief Roger D. Hodge, a move that was confirmed by the outlet’s union.
The move also earned The Intercept’s CEO, Annie Chabel, plenty of criticism. Both deputy editor Nausicaa Renner and senior news editor Ali Gharib declined when Chabel asked them to be interim co-editors-in-chief. Gharib took it further and resigned. Renner called Chabel’s editorial restructuring “disturbing” and told Semafor that Chabel’s leadership changed the outlet’s coverage and threatened its editorial independence.
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Chabel, for her part, acknowledged the challenging financial landscape, saying that “a lot of donors care about who is in power and the power is questioned, regardless of whether it’s left or right.” She also suggested that some “traditional funders” may not be interested in the “particular brand of journalism” that The Intercept has become known for, which has been largely pro-Palestinian since the Israel-Hamas war.
The Intercept may be the latest in a string of closures of media publications just this year. Vice Media, which was once valued at $5.8 billion, ceased operations and laid off hundreds of its employees in March. The online news outlet The Messenger abruptly closed shop in January after less than a year of operations. It was bleeding tens of millions of dollars while only obtaining about $3 million in revenue in 2023.
The Intercept’s situation appears to be similarly dire, with projections indicating that the outlet could deplete its funds entirely by May 2025 if the current financial trajectory continues. The Intercept’s executives have expressed a “stretch revenue goal” that could potentially allow the outlet to continue operating for a longer period, but the path forward remains uncertain, and The Messenger said pretty much the same thing.
Information for this story was found via Semafor, and the sources and companies mentioned. The author has no securities or affiliations related to the organizations discussed. Not a recommendation to buy or sell. Always do additional research and consult a professional before purchasing a security. The author holds no licenses.
