It was supposed to be the future of journalism, but on Wednesday Slate, the online magazine owned by Microsoft, was sold to a rather more traditional publisher, the Washington Post.
Its editor, Jacob Weisberg, said: ”We just came to the realisation that at this stage in our growth and the development of the magazine, it made sense for us to be at a more traditional media company.”
The price is thought to be $15-million to $21-million.
Slate will keep most of its staff and its editorial independence. To underline the point, it ran a front-page article on Wednesday attacking a Washington Post piece on the murders of mothers, and Weisberg wrote in an editorial: ”Slate is not going to be merged, submerged, bent, folded, spindled or mutilated.”
Slate was established in Seattle eight years ago by the former New Republic editor Michael Kinsley, who has since returned to traditional journalism. Its aim was to outflank and complement traditional newspapers by providing high-quality opinion and news coverage. Backed by the Microsoft owner Bill Gates’s money, it signed several star writers.
But the marriage of a content provider and a software provider was never an easy one. Weisberg said on Wednesday that it was difficult to engage freelance journalists for Slate because ”a company like Microsoft isn’t geared to write a check for $400”.
Gates professed himself pleased with the sale and the experiment.
”Mostly I’m really proud of Slate‘s pioneering role in online journalism, and confident it will continue to lead the way,” he wrote in an e-mail statement on Wednesday.
”As one of the early — albeit minor — participants in Slate‘s diary section, I’ll always feel incredibly close to it.
”Graduating to media ownership seemed the obvious next step for Slate, and I’m confident it will thrive wonderfully under the Post.”
Slate attracts five to six million readers a month, although estimates vary. The same studies suggest that the Washington Post‘s website attracts an equal amount of internet traffic, if not more. — Guardian Unlimited Â