BuzzFeed News is CLOSING after owner Jonah Peretti admitted progressive site was losing money
BuzzFeed is cutting its prestige news division after losing $10 million a year as part of budget cuts that will see 15% of the staff cut at the site and its sister outlet HuffPost
- BuzzFeed CEO Jonah Peretti announced the closure of the news division on Thursday
- Some employees are offered jobs at HuffPost
- BuzzFeed has lost millions and slashed costs in recent years
The Pulitzer Prize-winning brand Buzzfeed News is closing, according to a new memo to staff from the company’s CEO and founder.
“We are reducing our workforce by approximately 15 percent today across our Business, Content, Tech and Admin teams and are beginning to close BuzzFeed News,” CEO Jonah Peretti said in the post.
The company is closing only its news division. The news came shortly after rival This has been announced by Business Insider that it plans to lay off about ten percent of its news division.
“While layoffs are being made in nearly every division, we have determined that the company can no longer continue to fund BuzzFeed News as a standalone organization,” Peretti continued.
The layoffs will affect 180 employees across teams including business, content, tech and admin teams. The workforce of the entire Buzzfeed operation will be reduced by 15 percent.
The Pulitzer Prize-winning brand Buzzfeed News is about to close, according to a new memo to staff from the company’s CEO and founder
The owner went on to say that he was “over-investing” in the news brand “because [he] loved their work and mission so much.”
Peretti said some employees are being offered jobs at The Huffington Post, a website he co-founded in 2005. He also said that website is now profitable. Buzzfeed acquired The Huffington Post in November 2020 in a stock deal.
“Today I was fired while on maternity leave. Please keep me in your mind. Absolutely no words. Thanks Buzzfeed,” tweeted on-air broadcaster Alana Yzola, who works for the company’s Complex brand.
According to Peretti’s memo, the CEO said that “premium, free journalism” was not financially viable “because major platforms” don’t want to distribute the content.
Peretti also said he would contact the News Guild union regarding staff members who are members.
Following the news, the company’s stock fell 26 percent.
“I could have managed these changes better as CEO of this company and our leadership team could have performed better despite these circumstances,” Peretti wrote.
Our job is to adapt, change, improve and perform despite the challenges in the world. We can and will do better.’
At the end of last year, Buzzfeed laid off 12 percent of its staff.
Advertisers, whom BuzzFeed relies on, have largely scaled back spending to deal with rising costs. Advertising spend is typically one of the most elastic items in a company’s budget and is often the first place where cuts occur.
Social media and other companies that rely on digital advertising have also recently announced layoffs, including Facebook parent company Meta, Twitter and Snapchat.
Founded by Peretti in 2006 and initially known for lists and online quizzes, BuzzFeed has established itself as a serious contender in the news world, winning a Pulitzer for international coverage last year. Other brands include Tasty, the world’s largest social food network.
It has bought competitors, including HuffPost, the media outlet founded in 2005 as The Huffington Post, from Verizon Media in 2020.