"It is a bittersweet parting," writes Dot CEO Nicholas White. "Bitter, because he is leaving us. Sweet, because Owen has some awesome opportunities in front of him."
Thomas, the former executive editor of VentureBeat and managing editor of the now-defunct Valleywag, was dismissed as the publication struggles to gain advertisers and funding, one source tells us.
A second source tell us traffic is healthy -- growing a steady eight to 12% month-over-month, and hitting 350,000 uniques in February. But both sources claim that morale had been low ahead of Thomas's departure.
The Daily Dot has made good on its original mission to cover the biggest online communities -- namely, Reddit, Twitter, Tumblr and Pinterest -- in the style of a hometown newspaper. The publication does an exceptional job of unearthing stories within those communities.
But the potential value to advertisers is unclear. When questioned around the time of The Daily Dot's launch, White said this: “We think we can put together a special audience … influencers with enormous followings."