Buzzfeed to Close News Division, Cut 15% of Staff

Facts

• In a memo sent to staff on Thursday, BuzzFeed CEO Jonah Peretti revealed that BuzzFeed News, the Pulitzer Prize-winning news division of BuzzFeed.com, will shut down as the company can no longer continue to fund it as a standalone organization.¹
• In addition to closing BuzzFeed News, the company will cut 15% of its workforce — approximately 180 employees — in its business, content, tech, and administrative teams.²
• Peretti cited the pandemic, a tech recession, a tough economy, a declining stock market, a slowdown in digital advertising, and changing audience habits as factors that led to the decisions.³
• According to the memo, Peretti admitted to overinvesting in BuzzFeed News, as well as to not holding the company to "higher standards for profitability." He also added that "cost-saving measures to preserve as many jobs as possible" had been explored and exhausted.⁴
• BuzzFeed will reportedly now focus on HuffPost — which it acquired in 2020 — as a single news brand due to the publication being "profitable with a loyal direct front page audience."⁵
• BuzzFeed News' closure comes the same day as Insider Inc. announced it will cut roughly 10% of its staff in order to keep the company "healthy and competitive."⁶

Sources: ¹New York Times, ²Al Jazeera, ³Verge, ⁴Guardian, ⁵CNN, and ⁶Forbes.

Narratives

• Narrative A, as provided by Slate. BuzzFeed News's shutdown is sad but unsurprising. As audiences and advertisers move away from traditional social media platforms such as Facebook towards video services like YouTube and TikTok, even Buzzfeed News's award-winning credentials could not guarantee its survival. While more traditional media outlets with loyal readership — such as the New York Times — continue to thrive, the end of the road was always inevitable for Buzzfeed News, which depended on drive-by clicks.
• Narrative B, as provided by Atlantic. This decision highlights the failings of the online information economy. Plummeting digital advertising has cut into the profitability of major tech companies; however, it is a shame that an award-winning, newsworthy publication is the first to be grounded. The move also raises questions about Peretti's future intentions with Buzzfeed, as he doubles down on artificial intelligence as a route to transform the company into a premier platform for AI-powered content.