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[UPDATE (May 1, 2020): There’s a Vox Media furlough fund being raised on GoFundMe. Click here to make a donation.]
Curbed Atlanta, the beloved site known for breaking scoop on the City’s ever-evolving real estate, architecture, design, and urbanism, has shut down indefinitely.
Longtime Curbed Atlanta Editor and one helluva Journalist Josh Green announced the news on the publication’s social media pages Thursday.
“This account will be dormant after today, at least in terms of local news,” Green wrote.
“Your support of this news source and passion for this city has been legendary over the years.”
Curbed Atlanta parent company Vox Media on Thursday did not immediately respond to What Now Atlanta’s (WNA) request for comment.
The company, did, however, earlier this month announce it would be furloughing nine percent of its staff and that its Curbed publications in Atlanta, Austin, Boston, Chicago, and Detroit would stop publishing during the furlough period which ends July 31.
A spokesperson also shared this statement with Business of Home in referencing the furloughs:
“We believe this sets Curbed—a beloved brand and home to some of the strongest digital journalism on real estate, architecture, design, and urbanism being published—on a path that’s editorially ambitious while also more sustainable as a business.”
As with many other companies around the country, the furloughs are in response to the economic hardships in part brought on by nationwide stay-at-home orders created to slow the spread of COVID-19.
“While no one can predict when the downturn will abate, as I write this, the signs of a prolonged impact on our health, social norms and economy are gathering steam,” Vox Media CEO Jim Bankoff wrote in a companywide email earlier this month.
“We’ve already seen a decline in our business. Weakness in March, driven by the cancellations of SXSW and March Madness, the collapse of travel, sports, and fashion-related advertising, and other factors led us to miss our revenue goals by several million dollars in the first quarter; the impact will be significantly greater in the second quarter. While expressing the severity of this decline, it’s also important to know that we will rebound. We don’t know when or to what extent a rebound will occur. I’d be overjoyed if it happened quickly, but we cannot bet our company on these hopes. So, we are striving to make the necessary adjustments to get through this period, recalibrate and emerge with relative strength.”
Vox is expected to make an announcement regarding the shutter Friday, May 1 atop the [Curbed] homepage,” Green wrote, which could detail a “relaunch” of the site later this year.
“I won’t have access to that page or any social media associated with Curbed Atlanta as of 5 p.m. today, so twitter is the only channel for any updates that hopefully come.”
Josh can be reached and followed on Twitter here.
“By all metrics, this site is/was a standout hit because of all you. Your fervent interest in Atlanta raised so many eyebrows across the company/nation over the years. Sincere thanks, and stay well.”
[Editor’s note: The novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic is rapidly evolving as is its effect on Atlanta, and the City’s businesses and its residents. Click here for What Now Atlanta’s ongoing coverage of the crisis. For guidance and updates on the pandemic, please visit the C.D.C. website.]
