Some journalists are quitting their jobs and starting private subscription businesses. Jason Kabler and three other Vice Media veterans wanted to build something bigger: an actual news site. They launched 404 Media in the summer of 2023. Today it looks like this: A sustainable success story.
Many people dream of quitting their jobs and starting their own business. Jason Kabler and three colleagues did just that. It seems to be working fine.
In the summer of 2023, Kabler, formerly an editor at Vice Media, motherboard Technical department and three former deputy colleagues launched 404 Mediaa technology news site they co-own. They each put in $1,000 to get the project off the ground.
Fast forward to today, and Koebler says the company is already generating $900,000 in annual revenue, funded almost entirely by subscriptions. Even after deducting the technical and legal costs, the 404 is enough to be called a success. And that allows them to write whatever they want. For example, this recent article examining Elon Musk and Twitter/X’s involvement in the Alex Jones bankruptcy case.
This self-funded business model doesn’t work for everyone or everything. But it’s great to hear about things that are working well in tough times for media in general and journalism in particular. You can listen to the entire conversation I had with Cabler on my Channels podcast. Below are edited excerpts from the chat.
Looks like you guys are doing real business here. We can pay our four adult selves a journalism salary.
we. Things are going better than I expected. I also think it’s time to hire new employees.
When you launched, what did you think was the bare minimum you needed to do to keep this going? Did you think of a scenario where it was working well but you needed a side gig?
When we decided to do this, we told ourselves we would launch in August 2023 and do it until January.
Immediately after launching, we gained around 600 subscribers in the first few days. We’ve fallen into this kind of middle ground. Enough people signed up that there was clearly an audience, but not enough people (that we knew this would definitely work).
Although the response was overwhelming, it was unclear whether it would survive.
But what’s really cool is that every time we publish a big scoop or a big article, we get new subscribers.
Your structure is egalitarian. I think everyone gets paid equally.
we are all the same. We are all 25% owners. Managing the company was easier than I expected. I think if we’re going to grow, we’re probably going to have to figure out how we’re going to manage new employees and what that ownership is going to be like.
What happens when you all slow down and the vote goes 2-2?
There are no votes. We told each other from the beginning that we could refuse anyone or anything. So if someone thinks, “I don’t like this idea,” we just don’t do it.
I wanted to ask you about a great piece you recently wrote, “Billionaires are a threat, not a solution.” This is a personal story about your father, who worked for decades on the printing presses of the Washington Post. And about Jeff Bezos and the non-endorsement story. Your argument is that these problems will continue as long as we are looking for billionaires to own the media.
I agree with you. I don’t think we can rely on billionaires to fund our media. And this model you’ve built works for you and your three colleagues and co-owners. But it doesn’t work for everything. What kind of journalism does your model support? What doesn’t?
This kind of subscription-based independent model works well for us. We created four journalism jobs. Other independent media companies are also creating dozens more. But it’s still like a tiny, tiny drop in the bucket.
My theory is that there could be a lot of them. I really think so. 7,000 people subscribe. The market could support many more of these.
But what stories and projects can’t be realized because of a lack of equipment, staff, etc.?
“If you spend three, six, 12 months writing an investigative article and publish it, maybe it will win an award and a lot of people will read it – or maybe no one will read it.” I think that’s a model that we haven’t even tried. to do. This is an important model, and I think it’s probably a good model for nonprofits and the New York Times and the Washington Post.
I think the reason it works for us is because we tell and tell stories that you can’t find anywhere else.
