Protocol revenue was declining in 2022, below projections

Protocol, the tech news website that is closing, generated $4.8 million in 2022, down from $5.4 million in 2021, according to Sara Fischer of Axios.

Fischer reports, “The company had initially forecast over $13 million in revenue for this year. It made $2.1 million in 2020, the year it launched.

“Why it matters: The decision to shutter Protocol last week didn’t come as a surprise to some former and current employees, who said it had become clear in recent months that the company was not close to hitting its stated revenue goals.

“With roughly 60 staffers employed at the site, Protocol was also losing a significant amount of money.”

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Chris Roush

Chris Roush was the dean of the School of Communications at Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Connecticut. He was previously Walter E. Hussman Sr. Distinguished Professor in business journalism at UNC-Chapel Hill. He is a former business journalist for Bloomberg News, Businessweek, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Tampa Tribune and the Sarasota Herald-Tribune. He is the author of the leading business reporting textbook "Show me the Money: Writing Business and Economics Stories for Mass Communication" and "Thinking Things Over," a biography of former Wall Street Journal editor Vermont Royster.