Pulitzer Prize-winning digital media company BuzzFeed will close its news division and cut another 15% of its staff across the company, adding to layoffs made earlier this year.
BuzzFeed has about 1,200 total employees, according to a recent regulatory filing.
In a memo sent to staff, co-founder and CEO Jonah Peretti said that in addition to the news division, layoffs would occur across its business, content, technical and administrative teams. BuzzFeed is also considering making job cuts in international markets.
Peretti said in a memo to staff that he “made the decision to over-invest” in the news division, but did not recognize early enough that the financial support needed to maintain operations was not there. .
Digital advertising has fallen this year, reducing the profitability of big tech companies from Google to Facebook. Waves of layoffs have swept through the tech industry and more are expected.
“I learned from those mistakes, and the team moving forward learned from them as well,” Peretti wrote. “We know that the changes and improvements we are making today are necessary steps to build a better tomorrow.”
Christian Baesler, the company’s chief operating officer, and Edgar Hernandez, its chief revenue officer, are also leaving after helping with the restructuring.
The company will now have one remaining news brand, HuffPost, Peretti wrote.
Journalists who previously worked at BuzzFeed lamented the end of the news division.
“I’m heartbroken and proud of the great journalism we did while I was there and after I left,” said Ben Smith, BuzzFeed’s 2011-2020 editor and now news editor. head of Semafor.
Smith made the controversial decision in 2017 to release a ‘dossier’ of information on then-President Donald Trump, even though many outlets shunned it as unreliable and even Buzzfeed said there was serious reasons to doubt the allegations. He wrote then that “we have always erred on the publishing side.
BuzzFeed’s shutdown “really marks the end of the marriage between news and social media,” said Smith, author of “Traffic,” an upcoming story from that era.
BuzzFeed said Thursday that all of the work of the news division will be preserved and available within the BuzzFeed Network. The company is also working to ensure that all ongoing stories will be published and promoted on BuzzFeed Properties.
The announcement comes just months after BuzzFeed announced it would cut 12% of its workforce, citing deteriorating economic conditions.
BuzzFeed, founded by Peretti in 2006 and initially known for its online listings and quizzes, had established itself as a strong contender in the news industry, winning a Pulitzer in 2021 for international reporting.
But over the years, advertisers, who BuzzFeed relies on, have largely cut spending to keep up with rising costs. Ad spend is typically among the most elastic items in a company’s budget and is often the first place cuts are made.
