New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio on Friday blasted Joe Ricketts, the billionaire founder of TD Ameritrade, for abruptly shutting down two local news brands a day earlier.
“Joe Ricketts is a coward,” de Blasio wrote on Twitter. “He wouldn’t last a minute under the intrepid scrutiny of the reporters he employed. What a loss for our city.”
Joe Ricketts is a coward. He wouldn't last a minute under the intrepid scrutiny of the reporters he employed. What a loss for our city. https://t.co/IH0NH3JM0Z
— Mayor Bill de Blasio (@NYCMayor) November 3, 2017
The broadside came a day after Ricketts announced that he had shut down DNAInfo and Gothamist, as well as newsrooms across the country in cities including New York, Washington, Chicago and Los Angeles.
In a letter posted on the websites Thursday afternoon, Ricketts applauded the company’s “tens of thousands of stories that have informed, impacted, and inspired millions of people.”
“But DNAinfo is, at the end of the day, a business, and businesses need to be economically successful if they are to endure,” he wrote.
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