Neetzan Zimmerman is leaving Gawker, where his posts account for an outsized amount of the site's traffic.
The news was first announced in a tweet from Gawker editor John Cook who later confirmed the move to Mashable via email. Zimmerman declined to comment.
sad to say @neetzan is hanging up his viral guns for a start-up. if ur obsessed with winning the internet, plz inquire w/in. john at gawker.
— John Cook (@johnjcook) January 3, 2014
This chart from Gawker highlights just how significant Zimmerman's posts were to the site's overall traffic.
Zimmerman had garnered recent attention for his ability to drive traffic, including a feature in The Wall Street Journal. Capital New York also featured Zimmerman and referenced Gawker's plans to give him his own part of the site.
Numerous Gawker employees weighed in on Twitter about the departure.
SERIOUS loss for us all as we will all likely be fired soon RT @johnjcook sad to say @neetzan is hanging up his viral guns for a start-up.
— Hamilton Nolan (@hamiltonnolan) January 3, 2014
HELP I'M DROWNING ON LAND I FORGOT HOW TO BREATHE HELP!!!!!!! RT @JohnJCook sad to say @neetzan is hanging up his viral guns for a start-up.
— Caity Weaver (@caityweaver) January 3, 2014
Capital obtained a memo from Cook that called Zimmerman "the Editor of the Internet" and noted he would be leaving for a startup that is not a competitor of Gawker.
Image: iStockphoto, MHJ