Matt Yglesias, a prominent blogger and Slate's "Moneybox" columnist, is leaving the site at the end of February to join Ezra Klein's new venture, according to a staff memo.
Slate editor-in-chief David Plotz described Yglesias's departure as "a great opportunity for him to found and create an exciting new venture, working in partnership with one of his closest friends, who's also one of the best journalists around."
Klein's possible departure from The Washington Post had been the talk of D.C. media for the past month, with the paper finally announcing Tuesday that he, Melissa Bell and Dylan Matthews were leaving for a new venture.
Yglesias, a longtime friend of Klein who came up in the same political and policy blogging world, is the first non-Post journalist to join up.
Klein has not yet announced the site's name or his financial backer, but speculation within the Post has focused on Vox Media as investing in the project. The New York Times reported Tuesday that Klein has been in talks with Vox -- which owns sites like The Verge, SB Nation and Curbed -- among other potential investors.
Plotz's full staff memo is below:
Dear all,
You may recall that our last Moneybox columnist, Annie Lowrey, left Slate to go off and marry Ezra Klein. Well, it's happening again.
I'm sad to say that Matt is leaving us at the end of February to join Ezra in starting their ambitious new venture. Matt will tell us more about it as the veil lifts, but suffice to say: It's a great opportunity for him to found and create an exciting new venture, working in partnership with one of his closest friends, who's also one of the best journalists around.
I don't need to tell you what fantastic work Matt has done for Slate. But I will anyway: Since he came two years ago, he's become a signature Slate voice, bringing intellectual energy, humor, ambition to everything he does. Plus nobody writes more--maybe not even Weige. I also don't need to tell you what a lovely colleague Matt has been. He's always ready to contribute an idea, to brainstorm, to help out someone struggling with a piece, to walk to lunch, to have a drink. We're going to miss him!
Please join me in wishing him great good fortune in his new venture.
D