Stunner on a Thursday afternoon!

Philly.com is going the way of the Dodo bird, making way for…. Inquirer.com?

Yes that’s apparently what is happening here, as first spotted by Sean Brace at Philly Influencer:

As noticed by @Sean_Brace , https://t.co/GaVD7hAEgf is apparently no more, which is the most insane thing I’ve ever heard: pic.twitter.com/xYZblHM5CS — Kyle Scott (@CrossingBroad) May 30, 2019

Here’s the explanation, after the jump:

On June 2, The Philadelphia Inquirer will introduce a new logo and move our website to Inquirer.com. It’s a small change with a big impact on our mission to be your indispensable source of local news. Why the new logo? Inquirer content lives on more platforms than ever before. By making a few small tweaks, our new logo will be able to represent us better on our website, mobile app, social media channels, in print, and throughout the Philadelphia region. Why is Philly.com becoming Inquirer.com? We want our digital presence to reinforce our overall brand and our diverse voice, and for readers to easily identify us as their trustworthy, indispensable source of local news. and don’t worry – Philly.com will redirect to Inquirer.com, so you don’t even have to update your bookmarks.

No mention of the Daily News in there anywhere. On a related note, we’re told that the company running the newspaper and website will no longer be known as “Philadelphia Media Network.” It will now be known as “Philadelphia Inquirer, PBC,” which stands for “public benefit corporation.”

So there might be another layer to this that I’m unaware of, maybe an Inquirer/Daily News split, but if not, this is a weird idea for two reasons:

Philly.com is the most recognizable URL in this region. It’s a massively well-known and familiar brand. Most people can’t spell “Inquirer”

This news comes about one week after it was revealed that more buyouts and possible layoffs are looming for PMN employees.

Says the Maestro:

They are literally rebranding their website to better reflect the dying newspaper brand. I can't. — Kyle Scott (@CrossingBroad) May 30, 2019

https://t.co/GaVD7hAEgf has a domain authority of 90(!) and is among the 10,000 most visited websites on the planet. Yeah, let’s change it to something people can’t spell. — Kyle Scott (@CrossingBroad) May 30, 2019