Jezebel, the feminist-themed news and commentary site, is to close immediately. Founded by Gawker Media in 2007 and surviving that company's sale to Univision, current owner G/O Media has failed to find a buyer. Boss Jim Spanfeller sent out the following memo, posted by Will Sommer on Twitter. — Read the rest

Jim Spanfeller (previously) is the private equity monster whose mismanagement of various former Gizmodo sites (notably Gawker, Splinter and Deadspin) has generated endless bad press from his own employees, who have doggedly reported on every single demand that they shut up and suck it up, has now been publicly condemned in the pages of yet another of his publications — this time, it's the gaming site Kotaku.

After being bankrupted by Peter Thiel and sold off to Univision, merged with The Onion, then finally handed off to a private equity group, the G/O Media (formerly Gawker) stable of blogs might yet have thrived due to their undiminished traffic and capable reporters. — Read the rest

Kate Storey reports on the rise and fall of Gawker 2.0, this week's essential reading for new-media navelgazers. After the smoking remains of the site were auctioned off, the new owner (Bryan Goldberg, a frequent target of the original Gawker) had a plan to revive the site and its aggressive model of journalism. — Read the rest

Splinter was the news site at G/O Media (the successor to Gawker Media), housing left-leaning current affairs commentary and anchoring the groups' more advertiser-friendly tech, game and sports "verticals". The new owners have already demonstrated some unexpectedly poor judgment, and now they're shuttering Splinter and ordering other editors there not to write about it. — Read the rest

After Deadspin's Laura Wagner published an incredible, brave, detailed look at how her new private equity masters — Jim Spanfeller/Great Hill Partners — were running Gawker now that they'd acquired it from Univision, the company (now called "G/O Media") struck back.

"Private equity firm Great Hill Partners has agreed to acquire Gizmodo Media Group from Univision, forming a new company led by digital media exec Jim Spanfeller," reports the Wall Street Journal's Benjamin Mullin.