‘I just got laid off’: news startup the Messenger abruptly shutters after a year

Employees blindsided by news that company blew through $50m investment, will offer no severance and will cut off healthcare

The Messenger, a news startup launched last year with a $50m investment and a nonpartisan perspective, is shutting down, according to multiple news reports.

In a staff email, the publication's founder, Jimmy Finkelstein, wrote that the company had pursued all options over the past few weeks, literally until last night" but made the painful" decision to shut down the site effective immediately after failing to raise sufficient capital to reach profitability".