Kelsey Warner of Semafor writes about Moniify, a financial news site backed by an Egyptian billionaire, has flopped.
Warner writes, “Staffed up with alums from places like Al Jazeera, Bloomberg, VICE News, The Wall Street Journal, and the South China Morning Post, Moniify tried to differentiate itself in a quickly expanding landscape of fin-fluencers and financial journalists. In appearance, it stood out from more staid Gulf media outlets, featuring a slick interface with tickers for FAANG stocks and crypto, TikTok-style short-form videos on its homepage, and articles focused on tech, stock picks, and venture capital.
“Early headlines included an analysis of Nvidia’s share price and an explainer on the difference between crypto and Web3, as well as an interview with Fix Chocolate founder Sarah Hamouda, maker of the original Dubai Chocolate.
“But six current and former employees from the editorial and business divisions described an organization that struggled to find coherence in an editorial strategy. In the weeks before Moniify went online, reporters and editors agonized over whether the language they were using in their early drafts was ‘Gen Z enough’ — using terms like ‘earnings seazn’ and ‘slay’ in stories, which, in Millennial vernacular, felt pretty cringe to some staff.”
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