Dutch media company De Correspondent is pulling the plug on its English-language service at the end of this year, 15 months after it was launched.

Seven journalists employed to work on The Correspondent, all of whom were on temporary contracts, will lose their jobs, media news website Villamedia said.

The decision to stop publishing in English has been taken because only 21,000 of the 56,000 sign-up subscribers agreed to continue paying for the service, Villamedia said.

The Correspondent was launched in September 2019 following a high profile campaign, but was mired in controversy after the company said it would not have an American base despite basing its crowdfunding campaign there.

De Correspondent raised $1.8m in runway funding and over $2.5m via crowdfunding to launch the international version of their platform, which was based on the concept of ‘unbreaking news’.

Boasting about being ad-free, The Correspondent was funded by subscriptions and grants from media foundations and other organisations.