Origin Slate was founded in June 24, 1996 by
Michael Kinsley under the ownership of
Microsoft. Kinsley wrote that one of the site's goals was proving that "the economies of cyberspace make it easier for our kind of journalism to pay for itself". The outlet was considered an early pioneer of
digital journalism and popularized features such as
hyperlinks and communications between writers and readers. The website received much user traffic from the
MSN network through its relationship with Microsoft. In 1998,
Slate introduced a
paywall-based business model that attracted up to 20,000 subscribers but was later abandoned. The outlet achieved a profitable quarter in 2003 and broke even in 2004 with $6 million in revenue from six million monthly readers. An agreement in the purchase stipulated that the MSN website would continue to redirect to
Slate. Later, in 2008, The Washington Post Company launched The Slate Group, an online publishing entity, to manage
Slate and other online magazines. The same year,
Slate launched
The Root, an African American news site, and "The Big Money", a business news website. In the same year, the magazine laid off several high-profile journalists, including co-founder
Jack Shafer and
Timothy Noah (author of the
Chatterbox column). At the time, it had around 40 full-time editorial staff. In 2012, then-editor David Plotz spoke at
South by Southwest on
Slates efforts in running long-form journalism. Plotz discussed their commitment for all editors to spend four to six weeks each year to focus on a project, nicknamed "
Fresca" projects, instead of working on news output.
Slate also launched the "Slate Book Review", a monthly books section edited by Dan Kois, and a dedicated ad sales team. In 2013, the magazine was redesigned under the guidance of design director
Vivian Selbo. After The Washington Post Company sold
The Washington Post to Jeff Bezos in 2013,
Slates parent company was renamed to
Graham Holdings, which continued to own the magazine
Slate. The same year,
Slate introduced a paywall system called "Slate Plus", offering ad-free podcasts and bonus materials. A year later, it had attracted 9,000 subscribers, generating about $500,000 in annual revenue. By September 2014,
Slate became profitable after preceding years had seen layoffs and falling ad revenue.
Slate then moved all content behind a metered paywall for international readers in June 2015, attributing the change to advertisers targeting domestic readers. In 2018,
Slate staff members joined the
Writers Guild of America, East. After union members authorized a
strike,
Slate agreed to a three-year
collective bargaining agreement in January 2019. In 2021,
Mike Pesca, host of the podcast
The Gist, was suspended from
Slate after a
Slack discussion on
Donald G. McNeil Jr. and the usage of a racial slur, ultimately parting ways and taking his podcast independent. On September 16, 2025,
Slate filed a lawsuit against
Google over alleged antitrust violations. == slate.fr ==