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| BuzzFeed News to close and parent company to make substantial layoffs | BuzzFeed News to close and parent company to make substantial layoffs |
| (32 minutes later) | |
| Chief executive Jonah Peretti says in company-wide email BuzzFeed ‘can no longer continue to fund BuzzFeed News’ | Chief executive Jonah Peretti says in company-wide email BuzzFeed ‘can no longer continue to fund BuzzFeed News’ |
| BuzzFeed is shutting down what remains of its award-winning news department, signalling the end of an era for a website that once promised to upend the industry. | BuzzFeed is shutting down what remains of its award-winning news department, signalling the end of an era for a website that once promised to upend the industry. |
| Founder Jonah Peretti told staff on Thursday that “the company can no longer continue to fund BuzzFeed News” and would be looking to make substantial redundancies across the company. | Founder Jonah Peretti told staff on Thursday that “the company can no longer continue to fund BuzzFeed News” and would be looking to make substantial redundancies across the company. |
| He said the whole company had been hit by pandemic, a troubled stock market listing, a tough economy, a declining stock market, a slowdown in digital advertising, and changing audience habits. | He said the whole company had been hit by pandemic, a troubled stock market listing, a tough economy, a declining stock market, a slowdown in digital advertising, and changing audience habits. |
| Peretti suggested that there may not be a sustainable business model for high-quality online news. He wrote: “I made the decision to overinvest in BuzzFeed News because I love their work and mission so much. This made me slow to accept that the big platforms wouldn’t provide the distribution or financial support required to support premium, free journalism purpose-built for social media.” | Peretti suggested that there may not be a sustainable business model for high-quality online news. He wrote: “I made the decision to overinvest in BuzzFeed News because I love their work and mission so much. This made me slow to accept that the big platforms wouldn’t provide the distribution or financial support required to support premium, free journalism purpose-built for social media.” |
| BuzzFeed raised hundreds of millions of pounds from investors in the early 2010s as it surfed the explosion of social networks such as Facebook and Twitter to distribute content. In addition to producing viral content such as quizzes and lists it invested in original news reporting, in the belief this would attract a higher quality of advertiser. | BuzzFeed raised hundreds of millions of pounds from investors in the early 2010s as it surfed the explosion of social networks such as Facebook and Twitter to distribute content. In addition to producing viral content such as quizzes and lists it invested in original news reporting, in the belief this would attract a higher quality of advertiser. |
| This expensive process involved hiring hundreds of journalists around the world and culminated in the company winning a Pulitzer prize for its reporting. | This expensive process involved hiring hundreds of journalists around the world and culminated in the company winning a Pulitzer prize for its reporting. |
| Peretti said he regretted not holding the company to “higher standards for profitability” and said he “exhausted many other cost-saving measures to preserve as many jobs as possible” including cutting costs and closing physical offices. | Peretti said he regretted not holding the company to “higher standards for profitability” and said he “exhausted many other cost-saving measures to preserve as many jobs as possible” including cutting costs and closing physical offices. |
| In addition to closing BuzzFeed News, Peretti said there would be substantial job cuts across the rest of the business including the departure of two leading executives. | |
| As part of the changes, Peretti announced that both BuzzFeed’s CRO Edgar Hernandez and COO Christian Baesler have made the decision to leave the company. | |
| BuzzFeed also owns HuffPost, which will continue to publish news but has also seen deep cutbacks to its coverage in recent years. | BuzzFeed also owns HuffPost, which will continue to publish news but has also seen deep cutbacks to its coverage in recent years. |
| BuzzFeed’s financial challenges reflect the challenges of the online news industry. At one point in 2014 Disney considered buying the site for around $1bn but no deal could be agreed. The company eventually listed on the stock exchange seven years later, since when its share price has collapsed, with the business currently valued at less than $100m. | BuzzFeed’s financial challenges reflect the challenges of the online news industry. At one point in 2014 Disney considered buying the site for around $1bn but no deal could be agreed. The company eventually listed on the stock exchange seven years later, since when its share price has collapsed, with the business currently valued at less than $100m. |