Salon Closes After Three Decades as Commentators Dispute Its Legacy

Salon, founded in 1995 by former Mother Jones editor David Talbot, stopped publishing in the week before November 9. The closure came after the magazine changed hands in 2023, when the owners of adtech company Proper Media sold it to Find.co, a Malta-based startup whose business centers on crypto coverage and promotion. Find.co’s owners pulled the plug with little warning to staff or readers, a progressive commentator wrote.

Salon’s Closure Shows the Cost of Corporate Control of Journalism

Salon’s abrupt shutdown is a cautionary example of what can happen when a publication’s fate rests with a corporate owner rather than its readers. Find.co, a Malta-based startup whose business centers on crypto coverage and promotion, acquired the magazine in 2023 and pulled the plug with little warning to staff or readers, ending 31 years of publishing.

Salon had struggled financially, and its advertising income fell after Facebook changed its business model in 2016. The magazine was sold to Proper Media’s owners in 2019, bringing in $5 million, before they sold it to Find.co four years later. The progressive case is clear: independent journalism needs accountability to readers, not owners whose interests may lie elsewhere.

Salon was founded in 1995 by David Talbot, a former senior editor at Mother Jones. Its former staff and contributors include Michelle Goldberg, Rebecca Traister, Camille Paglia, Joan Walsh, Glenn Greenwald, Jake Tapper and Steve Kornacki.

A conservative commentator welcomed Salon’s demise, citing its past criticism of Breitbart and accusing it of promoting sexual content involving children and animals. That gloating makes the stakes plain: celebrating a newsroom’s disappearance does nothing to address the loss of a publication or the vulnerability of journalism under concentrated ownership.

Salon’s Demise Draws No Tears From a Longtime Target

Salon spent years attacking Breitbart, and a conservative commentator saw little reason to mourn when the magazine stopped publishing after 31 years. The commentator said Salon had continued to criticize Breitbart shortly before its closure and welcomed the loss of a publication he accused of promoting sexual content involving children and animals.

Salon’s progressive identity is central to the conservative reaction. Founded in 1995 by former Mother Jones editor David Talbot, it was a left-of-center magazine whose former contributors and staff include Michelle Goldberg, Rebecca Traister, Camille Paglia, Joan Walsh, Glenn Greenwald, Jake Tapper and Steve Kornacki. Its reach did not make it immune to financial pressures or the consequences of its ownership choices.

The magazine’s advertising income fell after Facebook changed its business model in 2016. Its owners sold it to Proper Media’s owners in 2019 for $5 million in new money; in 2023, those owners sold it to Find.co, a Malta-based startup focused on crypto coverage and promotion. Find.co shut Salon down with little notice to staff or readers.

Progressive commentary casts the closure as a warning about corporate control of journalism and argues that reader-supported outlets are safer. But that account does not change the fact that Salon’s publication ended, nor the years it spent taking aim at conservative outlets such as Breitbart.