'Vox' Cofounder Ezra Klein, EIC Lauren Williams Exiting

Vox cofounder and editor at large Ezra Klein is leaving the company, just a week after cofounder Matthew Yglesias stepped down to start his own venture on publishing platform Substack.

Lauren Williams, editor in chief and senior vice president of Vox.com, is also leaving.

Klein is headed to The New York Times, where he will have a regular column for the opinion page and host a podcast.

“If I thought Vox were weak, or fragile, or in crisis, or it needed me, I wouldn’t do this. I wouldn’t even consider it,” Klein wrote to Vox staff. 

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“But one of the beautiful things of the past few years is seeing how much less needed I am, how many projects grow beautifully without me. And I know where our business is, and I know how many revenue lines we have, and how well we’ve weathered this year’s storm," he continued.

Klein added: "This is a time of transition — out of the Trump era, out of the Covid recession, and into the next era of Vox."

He will no longer run "The Ezra Klein Show” podcast; Vox plans to launch a new interview show next year, according to Axios.

Williams is launching a nonprofit startup called Capital B, focused on creating a news outlet for civic journalism tailored to Black communities.

Vox Media publisher and cofounder Melissa Bell remains in her role. Bell, Klein and Yglesias founded Vox seven years ago.

“We expect the next seven years to be even more propulsive and creative,” Bell wrote to readers. “There’s a slew of new projects and partnerships coming, and we have a stronger, more diversified business than ever.”

Vox is looking to soon fill at least 10 key positions, including Williams’ role, which will be split into two: a senior vice president, focused on the business side of Vox, and an editor in chief.

Bell said the company will also be on more OTT channels next year and produce more video on Netflix, YouTube Originals and HBO.  New podcasts are slated to premiere in 2021, including a science show and a history show. 

Vox will also hire someone to support its contributions program, which launched this year to help offset losses in advertising.

Bell called the program “one of our biggest — and most successful — experiments” this year.

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