BuzzFeed News, which earned as reputation as a scrappy news-breaking digital rival to legacy media brands, is shutting down, Deadline reports.
Jonah Peretti, the CEO of BuzzFeed, announced to staffers in a memo on Thursday that they will concentrate their news efforts on HuffPost, “a brand that is profitable with a highly engaged, loyal audience that is less dependent on social platforms.”
BuzzFeed News bought HuffPost from Verizon Media in 2020.
Peretti also said that BuzzFeed is reducing its workforce by 15%, and begin discussions with the NewsGuild about the cutbacks
BuzzFeed stock experienced yet more volatility on the latest bad news for the company, plunging as much as 26% before recovering slightly to trade in the range of 85 cents.
The shares went public in December 2021 and the IPO triggered a class-action lawsuit from dozens of employees who accused the company of putting them through “Kafka-esque tribulations” in order to realize financial benefits from the offering.
The company plans to report its first-quarter earnings on May 9.
The layoffs and decision to shut down BuzzFeed mark the latest upheaval in news media, particularly among some once high-flying stars in the digital space, which is experiencing a pullback in advertising revenue. Other legacy brands, including CNN and NPR, also have undergone significant layoffs in the past six months, according to Deadline.