I beg to differ, Monk. According to what I've read, "Backpage became a part of Village Voice Media in a 2006 merger." Therefore, VVM -the company that owned the Village Voice and other alternative weeklies - bought Backpage, so in essence the Village Voice itself contributed to their own demise. And in actuality, it was a two-step process.
The backlash against Backpage for their adult ads caused a flurry of protests by AGs and celebrities, resulting in an exodus of many major advertisers who did not want the association with sex trafficking that was being alleged against the ad site. This eventually led to the company spinning off their newspaper group and selling it to some company insiders. Two of the original VVM shareholders retained ownership of Backpage. This was a smart move on the part of those shareholders, since Backpage was the more lucrative part of their empire. So, without the profits from Backpage, the newspaper group suffered. Massive layoffs at the papers, including the Village Voice, followed. And not only did the newspaper group lose their Backpage revenue stream, but they found themselves in competition with Backpage itself, losing their adult classified advertising share to the online ads.
So, the Village Voice definitely contributed to their own demise from start to finish.
The backlash against Backpage for their adult ads caused a flurry of protests by AGs and celebrities, resulting in an exodus of many major advertisers who did not want the association with sex trafficking that was being alleged against the ad site. This eventually led to the company spinning off their newspaper group and selling it to some company insiders. Two of the original VVM shareholders retained ownership of Backpage. This was a smart move on the part of those shareholders, since Backpage was the more lucrative part of their empire. So, without the profits from Backpage, the newspaper group suffered. Massive layoffs at the papers, including the Village Voice, followed. And not only did the newspaper group lose their Backpage revenue stream, but they found themselves in competition with Backpage itself, losing their adult classified advertising share to the online ads.
So, the Village Voice definitely contributed to their own demise from start to finish.