4 ms·

It doesn't really support the theory that billionaires create jobs... On a more serious note, this was clearly anti-union. But there is some truth to the claim

It doesn't really support the theory that billionaires create jobs... On a more serious note, this was clearly anti-union. But there is some truth to the claims about profitability. I don't know if DNAinfo was profitable or not, but I'm not surprised their margins were thin. There are huge differences in tech adoption in publishing. A site like the Washington Post with a strong tech influence (i.e. bezos money) has an incredibly advanced ad tech stack and optimize the programmatic advertising market. They probably have complex models that price their ads based on historical data and user information, and they've begun to productize their CMS. Whereas publishers that rely on direct sales with brands struggle to stay afloat and without a decent-sized dev team, profitability can be a distant dream.

look_lookatme 9y ago
DNAinfo was never profitable in its 8 year existence. With the union taking root it was probably never going to see a return. In my opinion the only unethical thing here was taking down the archives. Total severance seemed fine.
- berberous 9y ago
  What about Gothamist? I would bet it was profitable since it was run independently for a long time. It was a glorified blog — lots of reprinting Post articles rather than the independent reporting that DNA Info did, so I imagine it had much lower costs.
  - rexf 9y ago
    This tweet by someone who appears to have written for Gothamist claims that "Gothamist actually WAS profitable. DNAInfo wasn't." https://twitter.com/lindsayism/status/926201373858856962 https://twitter.com/lindsayism/status/926201373858856962
- katedye 9y ago
  They could have sold to a company that would have overhauled their monetization, but you're right that it isn't _unethical_ to shut-down (unnecessary, maybe).
  - locopati 9y ago
    It's unethical when they pulled the plug _because_ of unionization and, in spite, removed the archives (so any writer who wants to point to their work no longer can). There were ethical ways to handle this - look for buyers, revamp the business model, try a subscription rate, lots of things.
  - notyourday 9y ago
    Opex loses is liability. Company with no opex is an asset.
manigandham 9y ago
TD Ameritrade doesn't employ anyone? These newspaper jobs also existed until today while being unprofitable the whole time so it's likely the business would've closed even sooner with other owners. Most pubs are 100% programmatic now, nobody is doing direct deals at small local news sites. And pubs dont need big dev teams for ads, SSPs are cheap and easy or they can use the standard header bidding wrappers. Yield management is always a moving target but not particularly complicated.

look_lookatme 9y ago

DNAinfo was never profitable in its 8 year existence. With the union taking root it was probably never going to see a return. In my opinion the only unethical thing here was taking down the archives. Total severance seemed fine.

berberous 9y ago
What about Gothamist? I would bet it was profitable since it was run independently for a long time. It was a glorified blog — lots of reprinting Post articles rather than the independent reporting that DNA Info did, so I imagine it had much lower costs.
- rexf 9y ago
  This tweet by someone who appears to have written for Gothamist claims that "Gothamist actually WAS profitable. DNAInfo wasn't." https://twitter.com/lindsayism/status/926201373858856962 https://twitter.com/lindsayism/status/926201373858856962
katedye 9y ago
They could have sold to a company that would have overhauled their monetization, but you're right that it isn't _unethical_ to shut-down (unnecessary, maybe).
- locopati 9y ago
  It's unethical when they pulled the plug _because_ of unionization and, in spite, removed the archives (so any writer who wants to point to their work no longer can). There were ethical ways to handle this - look for buyers, revamp the business model, try a subscription rate, lots of things.
- notyourday 9y ago
  Opex loses is liability. Company with no opex is an asset.

manigandham 9y ago

TD Ameritrade doesn't employ anyone? These newspaper jobs also existed until today while being unprofitable the whole time so it's likely the business would've closed even sooner with other owners. Most pubs are 100% programmatic now, nobody is doing direct deals at small local news sites. And pubs dont need big dev teams for ads, SSPs are cheap and easy or they can use the standard header bidding wrappers. Yield management is always a moving target but not particularly complicated.