EXODUS

Jezebel Editor Exits, the Latest in String of G/O Media Departures

The women-focused site is losing its top editor—yet another exit in a months-long series of departures.

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Another top editorial figure at G/O Media is leaving the company, joining a string of high-profile departures from the well-known digital-media company over the past year.

Multiple G/O Media sources told The Daily Beast that Julianne Escobedo Shepherd, the editor in chief of Jezebel, the popular website focused on politics, culture, and women’s lifestyle, told staff on Tuesday she will leave later this month to write a book published by Penguin Books.

Shepherd has served as the site’s top editor for the past three years and was one of the publication’s longest-tenured staffers, writing and editing for Jezebel since 2014. Her announcement comes just weeks after the departure of G/O editorial director Jim Rich, who exited following internal clashes with other higher-ups, including G/O Media CEO Jim Spanfeller.

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While Rich’s exit made headlines, in recent months a number of other top staff have also quietly left G/O Media, a digital-media company owned by Boston private equity firm Great Hill Partners—which houses other well-known brands like Gizmodo, The Onion, The Root, and Kotaku, among other sites. Over the past several months, the heads of audience development, marketing, commerce, as well as the chief revenue, financial, and technology officers have all departed G/O.

Jezebel hasn’t settled on a new editor, but a person familiar with the matter told The Daily Beast the candidate pool is “extremely strong.”

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Maxwell TaniMedia reporter

Lachlan Cartwright

Andrew KirellEditor

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