'The Observer's Very Short List' Proudly Brought to You by the New York Observer
The first edition of email newsletter Very Short List is out for the first time under the control of New York Observer publisher Jared Kushner. What advertiser do you think he lined up?
Why the New York Observer itself! The high-brow culture newsletter has been, as was expected, renamed "The Observer's Very Short List," though the art at the top obscures that banner change.
Confirming our earlier reporting, IAC officially announced that the New York Observer will take over Very Short List. Despite its all-star founders, the email shopper reportedly sold cheap.
Observer owner Jared Kushner picked up VSL for somewhere under $1 million, a source tells the New York Post. In comparison, Daily Candy, which inspired VSL, sold last year for $125 million. The sales price must vex the VSL founding team Barry Diller (of IAC), Kurt Andersen (of Spy and New York) and Michael R. Jackson (the British television producer). On the other hand, at least they didn't have to shut the thing down.
The Post put Kushner's stake at 80 percent. Kushner told the Post he planned to shut down VSL's niche spinoff lists, like "VSL:Science," and concentrate on trying to make money off the core property, which will be renamed "The Observer's Very Short List." Kushner's not sweating that fact only one-fifth of subscribers are said to open their copies of VSL:
Kushner declined to comment on VSL's open rate, but said that it was above industry average and compared favorably to peer group newsletters like Daily Candy, Thrillist, and Flavorpill.
Of course, unlike the new VSL, those lists have the advantage of being published by more than half a staffer.
