We bid you adieu

The Kernel will shortly cease publication.

I am inordinately proud of the journalism The Kernel has published since December 2011. Much of it has, in many ways, been unprecedented in the European technology industry. But, ultimately, the project has not been as much of a financial success as it has been an editorial one.

The fault for that lies squarely with me personally. This was my first entrepreneurial venture, one for which I sacrificed nearly two years of earnings and most of my savings. But it has been a commercial failure: I have been unable to turn ferocious, funny and brave journalism into gold.

It was a bold experiment. But it didn’t work.

There will be those happy to see us fail, among them ideological opponents, wrongdoers, exposed miscreants, disgruntled reviewees and others who, over the course of the last year and a half, have felt themselves for some reason short-changed by us. Our loyalty, however, is to our readers.

Because we could not have achieved the extraordinary profile and influence we did in the short space of time we were operating without the support of hundreds of thousands of readers and thousands of subscribers who put their hands in their back pockets to pay for our content.

I have been overwhelmed and enormously grateful for the enthusiasm of our quiet but fiercely loyal family. It is time, however, to draw a line gracefully under what we have achieved, to take stock, to express our gratitude, and to think about the next bit of the journey.

We are no longer accepting new subscriptions. Over the next few weeks, a few last pieces of pre-prepared content will appear on the site. Thank you, most sincerely, for reading. I’m personally very sorry I couldn’t make this work, and I regret bitterly the things The Kernel will not now do.