Short answers, pulled from the story.
Slate magazine was founded on the 24th of June 1996 by Michael Kinsley. The publication launched under the ownership of Microsoft with the goal of proving that the economics of cyberspace could support serious journalism.
Slate pitches are ideas that sound wrong or counterintuitive proposed as though they were the tightest logic ever. This style became so distinctive that a Twitter hashtag named #slatepitches emerged in 2009 to track the phenomenon.
Slate launched its first podcast named Political Gabfest in 2005 and offered a slate of 25 podcasts by 2018. The outlet has earned awards for audio journalism including recognition for Slow Burn and Political Gabfest.
Slate magazine was purchased by The Washington Post Company in 2004 which later renamed itself Graham Holdings Company. The company launched The Slate Group in 2008 to manage Slate and other online magazines including The Root and The Big Money.
Slate became profitable by September 2014 after preceding years had seen layoffs and falling ad revenue. The magazine introduced a paywall system called Slate Plus in 2014 and moved all content behind a metered paywall for international readers in June 2015.
Michael Kinsley served as the first editor-in-chief from 1996 to 2002 followed by Jacob Weisberg from 2002 to 2008. Hillary Frey was named the magazine's new editor-in-chief in May 2022 after Jared Hohlt took the role on the 1st of April 2019.