Grid launched with about $10 million in first-round funding from IMI and the tech executive Brian Edelman, at a time when a flood of other start-ups-like Semafor, the buzzy site from Ben and Justin Smith Punchbowl, the Congress-focused outlet launched by a group of ex-Politicos and Puck, the media start-up boasting lots of big-name writers-with similar ambitions to disrupt the digital news landscape, had emerged. The Gray Lady gave Grid a similar treatment when it launched last January, when the cofounders said they wanted to give readers a “fuller” picture of the news than mainstream media offered. One staffer I spoke to hadn’t yet heard of The Messenger, the latest media start-up pitching itself as a nonpartisan alternative to what’s currently out there in a glowing announcement in The New York Times. The acquisition came as a surprise to Grid staffers, who said they had been told their start-up, which had roughly 50 employees, had a two- to three-year runway. IMI would make a minority investment in The Messenger, which is set to launch in May, as part of the deal. Instead, they would learn, IMI had found a new owner: the yet-to-be launched news site by media entrepreneur Jimmy Finkelstein.įinkelstein joined the meeting, as did his politics editor Marty Kady, but they didn’t take questions.
Perhaps executives from IMI, the Abu Dhabi–based majority investor, had found a new chairman to replace Grid CEO and cofounder Mark Bauman, who departed back in November. Last Wednesday, Grid staff got on a Zoom meeting for what some expected to be an announcement of new hires.
On Monday, Grid News, a one-year-old online news start-up, went dark its articles and teal branding disappeared, and its web address redirected to a navy blue page with bright yellow text that read: “Grid has been acquired by The Messenger.”
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