DNAinfo cites vote to unionize among reasons billionaire owner Joe Ricketts shuttered it and Gothamist sites

Joe Ricketts shutters DNAInfo, Gothamist
(Image credit: Kris Connor/Getty Images for Roadside Attractions)

On Thursday evening, Joe Ricketts posted a notice on DNAinfo, a local-news organization he founded in 2009, explaining that he had shuttered it and the other sites under the DNAinfo umbrella — Gothamist, SFist, Chicagoist, SFist, Shanghaiist — because they were not "economically successful" enough "to endure." All their articles disappeared, and every site currently displays Ricketts' statement:

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Peter Weber, The Week US

Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.