[3][4][5][6][7] After the blocking, the site's owner decided to shut it down at midnight on 15 March 2016, citing financial losses incurred by its parent company The Edge Media Group amounting to RM 10 million in the 20 months since The Malaysian Insider's acquisition.

A group of businessmen and journalists close to former Malaysian Prime Minister Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi started the news portal as a counter to Malaysiakini, which was deemed unfriendly to the Barisan Nasional (BN).

After talking to several connections, the news portal's top management re-secured funding with help from a 30-something Penang-born businessman with close ties to the current BN leadership.

[10] Until its closure on 15 March 2016, The Malaysian Insider was led by chief executive officer and editor Jahabar Sadiq who has worked as a journalist in the region since 1988.

[9] On 15 March 2016, the online newspaper was shut down by The Edge Media Group, citing financial losses amounting to RM 10 million in the past 20 months since The Malaysian Insider's acquisition.

Several of the more notable columnists were the member of the Selangor state assemblyman and political secretary to the Selangor Menteri Besar Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad, Democratic Action Party (DAP) Member of Parliament Liew Chin Tong, National Trust Party (Malaysia) (AMANAH) MP Khalid Abdul Samad, UMNO MP Nur Jazlan Mohamed and a former Special Officer to Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, Ziad Razak.

On 12 August 2015, TMI was sued by then Menteri Besar of Selangor, Khalid Ibrahim for publishing defamatory articles claiming that he had partaken in a dubious out-of-court settlement with Bank Islam.

[19] On 30 January 2015, the news portal, together with Lim Guan Eng and Malaysiakini, was sued by Penang United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) secretary, Datuk Musa Sheikh Fadzir, Maison Height Sdn Bhd and Penang Barisan Nasional secretary Datuk Omar Faudzar[20] for publishing defamatory articles on the alleged sale of Malay lands for profit.

The plaintiffs stated that Lim, Mkini, and Gan had published another article “Umno Made Profits by Selling Malay Kampungs”, containing defamatory words in Malaysiakini.

[25] On 31 May 2011, the news portal published an article that contained defamatory words against former Malaysia Airlines (MAS) chairman, Tan Sri Tajuddin Ramli.

[26][27][28] However, he did not find the apology sufficient and filled a legal suit on 18 August in Kuala Lumpur Civil Court for RM 200 million.