Ricketts, who was CEO of DNAinfo and had bought Gothamist earlier this year, penned a letter to readers to explain his decision, noting “DNAinfo is, at the end of the day, a business, and businesses need to be economically successful if they are to endure.”
Local outlets also owned by Ricketts in Los Angeles, Chicago, and Washington, D.C., including DCist, will also close its doors along with the New York papers, leaving nearly 115 journalists without jobs, just one week after they voted to unionize.
Despite efforts to make the business more profitable, he said they haven’t “been sufficient to support the tremendous effort and expense needed to produce the type of journalism on which the company was founded.”
Billionaire CEO Joe Ricketts shuts down DNAinfo, Gothamist after union vote
Enjoy That UNION Card in the unemployment line
These Media Employees Voted To Unionize. One Week Later, They Found Out What A Rotten Decision That Was.
Last spring, after DNAinfo and Gothamist New York newsrooms made noises about unionizing, Ricketts warned, “As long as it’s my money that’s paying for everything, I intend to be the one making the decisions about the direction of the business.” By September Ricketts wrote on his blog a piece titled “Why I’m Against Unions At Businesses I Create.” He asserted, “ … unions promote a corrosive us-against-them dynamic that destroys the esprit de corps businesses need to succeed.”
Local outlets also owned by Ricketts in Los Angeles, Chicago, and Washington, D.C., including DCist, will also close its doors along with the New York papers, leaving nearly 115 journalists without jobs, just one week after they voted to unionize.
Despite efforts to make the business more profitable, he said they haven’t “been sufficient to support the tremendous effort and expense needed to produce the type of journalism on which the company was founded.”
Billionaire CEO Joe Ricketts shuts down DNAinfo, Gothamist after union vote
Enjoy That UNION Card in the unemployment line
These Media Employees Voted To Unionize. One Week Later, They Found Out What A Rotten Decision That Was.
Last spring, after DNAinfo and Gothamist New York newsrooms made noises about unionizing, Ricketts warned, “As long as it’s my money that’s paying for everything, I intend to be the one making the decisions about the direction of the business.” By September Ricketts wrote on his blog a piece titled “Why I’m Against Unions At Businesses I Create.” He asserted, “ … unions promote a corrosive us-against-them dynamic that destroys the esprit de corps businesses need to succeed.”
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