Refinery29 Australia closes down

Refinery29 Australia will no longer publish in Australia after Pedestrian Group announces restructure.

Vice Australia, Kotaku, Gizmodo and Lifehacker Australia will also be closing. 

The publications will cease local operations, and their entire staff have been made redundant, as reported by Mumbrella.

Pedestrian Group announced the "tough decision" to transition out of its current brand licences, resulting in a number of job losses. 

Refinery29 Australia head of editorial, Zahra Campbell-Avenell, shared the news on LinkedIn.

"It is with a heavy heart that I share the news that I, along with the rest of the Refinery29 Australia team and dozens of my colleagues at Pedestrian Group, have been made redundant."

"Building a brand, especially amidst the challenges of the 2021 lockdowns, was no easy feat. Over the past three years, I’ve had the privilege of leading the creation and growth of Refinery29 in Australia – a brand that’s like no other; amplifying underrepresented voices and telling stories that truly matter."

"We’ve achieved significant milestones, from growing our Instagram following from 0 to 25,000 and building a vibrant TikTok community with 13,000 followers, to consistently surpassing 1 million pageviews each month on our website," said Campbell-Avenell.