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Salon shuts down after 31 years

Salon shuts down after 31 years

Money Moves

The online magazine that helped define digital journalism closes as its publishing model becomes unsustainable

6 days ago: Salon announces shutdown

Overview

Updated 3 days ago

Salon, one of the first online-only news magazines, published its final piece on November 5, 2026, and closed the same day. The farewell post cited "the business realities of independent digital journalism" and a publishing model that is "no longer sustainable."

Nineteen full-time employees and several contractors lost their jobs, and chief content officer Erin Keane said the archive will "stay live for now." Owner Find.co, a marketing company that bought Salon in 2023, has not said what it plans to do with the site. Salon named no single cause; Pew Research Center found in July 2025 that Google users clicked a regular result on 8% of visits with an AI summary, versus 15% without one.

Why it matters

Even a 31-year-old brand with loyal readers could not make ad-supported publishing pay, and AI summaries keep cutting search traffic.

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Key Indicators

31
Years of publication
Salon launched on November 20, 1995, and closed on November 5, 2026.
19
Full-time employees laid off
The Associated Press reported 19 full-time staff lost their jobs; contractors also lost work.
~150
Peak staff size
Salon at one point employed nearly 150 workers, per Deadline.

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People Involved

David Talbot
David Talbot
Founder and former editor-in-chief
No longer with Salon
EK
Erin Keane
Chief content officer
Confirmed the November 5 closure took effect immediately
 Amanda Wolfe
Amanda Wolfe
General manager
Declined further comment

Organizations Involved

Salon
Salon
Online news magazine
Ceased publication on November 5, 2026

One of the first online-only news magazines, known for politics, culture and criticism.
FI
Find.co
Marketing company
Owner of Salon since 2023

A privately held company that describes itself as a performance marketing ecosystem.
Writers Guild of America (WGA)
Writers Guild of America (WGA)
Labor Union
Represented Salon workers since 2018

The union that organized Salon's staff and signed a first contract in 2018.

Timeline

November 1995 November 2026

5 events Latest: 6 days ago
Tap a bar to jump to that date

  1. Salon announces shutdown

    Latest Closure

    Farewell post cites an unsustainable publishing model; 19 full-time staff lose jobs.

  2. Keane confirms immediate closure

    Closure

    Salon's chief content officer confirms the site closed effective immediately, leaving 19 full-time employees and several contractors without work.

  3. Find.co acquires Salon

    Ownership

    Marketing company Find.co buys Salon.com from Drew Schoentrup and Chris Richmond.

  4. Workers unionize and sign first contract with WGA East

    Labor

    Salon staff unionize with the Writers Guild of America East and sign their first contract with the guild.

  5. Salon launches

    Launch

    David Talbot and five co-founders debut one of the first online-only news magazines.

Scenarios

1

Salon's archive stays online but stops updating

Likely Resolves by May 5, 2027

Discussed by: Salon chief content officer Erin Keane, via The Verge

Keane said the editorial archive will "stay live for now." In this scenario, salon.com continues to serve past articles with no new publication, and the site becomes a static archive under Find.co's ownership.

2

Find.co sells the Salon brand or domain

Possible Resolves by Nov 5, 2027

Discussed by: Industry observers, following patterns at other shuttered outlets

Shuttered publications often sell their domain and brand to new owners. If Find.co sells salon.com, a buyer could relaunch the site under the Salon name or redirect the domain.

3

Salon's archive goes dark

Unlikely Resolves by May 5, 2027

Discussed by: Readers and former staff, given the site's uncertain ownership

Keane's "for now" leaves open the possibility that the archive is eventually taken offline. If Find.co stops paying to host the site, salon.com could stop resolving or lose its back catalog.

Historical Context

2 moments from history that rhyme with this story — and how they unfolded.

August 2016

Gawker shutdown (2016)

Gawker Media filed for bankruptcy and shut down its flagship site after losing a privacy lawsuit funded by Peter Thiel. The company's other properties were sold to Univision, and Gawker's archive was eventually moved under new ownership.

Then

Gawker.com stopped publishing and its staff scattered to other outlets.

Now

The brand and archive changed hands more than once, showing that a shuttered site's back catalog can outlive the publication.

Why this matters now

Salon faces the same question Gawker did: what happens to a defunct outlet's archive and brand after the staff is gone.

April 2023

BuzzFeed News shutdown (2023)

BuzzFeed shut down its award-winning news division, citing an inability to sustain the operation financially. The closure eliminated dozens of journalism jobs and marked the end of a decade-long bet on digital news.

Then

BuzzFeed News stopped publishing and its staff were laid off.

Now

The closure became a reference point for the collapse of ad-supported digital news outlets.

Why this matters now

Variety grouped Salon with BuzzFeed and Gawker as sites that struggled to monetize general-audience reporting.

Sources

(7)
+1
Salon Associated Press The Verge Deadline Variety The New York Independent Journalism Pakistan