Camera review site DPReview finds buyer and avoids Amazon shutdown

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In March, the 25-year-old editor of Amazon-owned camera review site DPReview.com announced that the site would shut down in April. The site has been the victim of a series of layoffs at Amazon that will affect a total of around 27,000 employees this year; DPReview was to stop publishing new articles on April 10 and be available in read-only mode for an indefinite period thereafter.

But then something strange happened: the site just continued to post at a fairly steady pace throughout April and into now. A no-update EIC Scott Everett released in mid-May simply acknowledged that coins were still rising and there was "nothing to share", which was not much. something to do, but also didn't give the impression that the site was in imminent danger of disappearing.

Yesterday, Everett finally had something to share: DPReview.com and its "current editorial, technical and business team[s]" were being acquired by Gear Patrol, an independent consumer technology site founded by Eric Yang in 2007. . The agreement was already concluded yesterday, June 20.

Everett's message states that "the site will continue to operate as before, with all editorial coverage and site functionality remaining the same, and all historical content accessible." The availability of this historical content was a major concern for many readers - high end cameras have long lifespans and DPReview was an important content repository for people trying to navigate the used camera market. Everett noted that DPReview user accounts have been transferred to Gear Patrol and will now be subject to the Gear Patrol Terms of Service.

While the current DPReview team will continue to run the site, former employees who left after the site was announced to be closed do not appear to have been invited back. The site's former editor, Gannon Burgett, criticized Amazon in harsh terms on Twitter, blaming the company for creating uncertainty for current and former DPReview employees and freelancers.

"You understand this stuff before you shut down an entire division of your business, not in hindsight after weeks of backlash and letting freelancers scramble for new gigs because they're told they won't have no work," writes Burgett. "The whole situation was a shit show. I'm extremely happy for everyone who stayed and still have a job. But I know for most of them it wasn't clear what was going on for at least minus the first two or three months, which is incredibly unfair to the employees who helped build the very resource you're about to transform and sell."

"And to that I will say again, fuck Amazon," Burgett said.