Gothamist — the trendy news and culture website that went belly up three months ago after staffers voted to unionize — has risen from the dead.
Public radio station WNYC announced Friday that it has bought the New York City-based operation and will have it back online in the spring.
The deal was funded "largely" by two anonymous donors and includes Gothamist's archives, domain name and social media assets.
The move comes as part of a larger deal involving two other public radio outlets and Gothamist's network of local news sites — with KPCC in Pasadena, California taking over LAist, and WAMU in Washington acquiring DCist.
"For more than a decade, Gothamist served as a source of trusted local news. That resonates with us at WNYC, where we are committed to telling stories rooted in New York and that matter to New Yorkers," New York Public Radio President and CEO Laura Walker said.
"As we've seen a decline in local journalism in even the largest metropolitan areas across the country, even at a time when it's so vital, we remain committed to strong, independent reporting that fills the void."
The financial details of the deal, first reported by Wired, were not revealed.
Gothamist and a companion news site DNAinfo were previously owned by Joe Ricketts, a billionaire businessman who founded the brokerage TD Ameritrade.
Ricketts abruptly shuttered both sites in November, a week after reporters and editors who worked for them voted to join a union.
Gothamist co-founder Jake Dobkin told Wired the deal was "the best possible outcome" for the popular website, which will be fueled by stories from WNYC staffers, new hires and former Gothamist writers.
Ricketts said in a statement: "The most important thing for me was to make sure the assets went to a news organization that would honor our commitment to neighborhood storytelling."
The blog won numerous awards since its founding in 2003 by Dobkin and Jen Chun. It was named a "Forbes Favorite," a BusinessWeek "Best of the Web" and blog of the year by Wired magazine.
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