Key facts
- Salon said its publishing model is no longer sustainable and it has reached the decision to close.
- Salon was founded in San Francisco in 1995 and moved most editorial staff to New York City in the 2000s.
- Salon won Time magazine's website of the year award in 1996 and BusinessWeek's best website award in 1997.
Salon, one of the early internet's pioneering publications, announced on Thursday that it is closing after more than three decades, saying its publishing model is no longer sustainable. The company published the closure in a statement dated November 5, 2026, weeks before the site's anniversary on November 20.
"The business realities of independent digital journalism have changed profoundly over the years," Salon said in the statement. "After careful consideration, we have reached the difficult decision that our publishing model is no longer sustainable." The company also said the news would be "deeply disappointing to many of you."
Founded in San Francisco in 1995, Salon built its reputation on politics, arts and culture coverage and described its output as having "helped pioneer a form of journalism that would come to define an entirely new era of publishing." It moved most editorial staff to New York City in the 2000s. A 2011 Columbia Journalism Review piece described it as the oldest general interest publication on the internet, according to the report.
Salon won awards through the 1990s, including Time magazine's website of the year in 1996 and BusinessWeek's best website in 1997. "Thirty-one years is a remarkable run," the statement said.