BuzzFeed

BuzzFeed is laying off 16% of its remaining workforce, affecting employees across the company as part of a restructuring effort to improve profitability. This follows the sale of its youth-culture media brand Complex to ecommerce platform Ntwrk for $108.6 million. With a remaining staff of just under 1,000, the cuts are expected to save about $23 million annually. The move, announced in late February 2024, comes after the company shut down its BuzzFeed News division in 2023. As a digital media company, BuzzFeed will now focus on its core brands like BuzzFeed, HuffPost, Tasty, and the retained First We Feast.

BuzzFeed is shutting down its BuzzFeed News division and laying off approximately 180 employees, representing 15% of its workforce, as announced by CEO Jonah Peretti in April 2023. The decision stems from the division's inability to achieve profitability, with Peretti citing overinvestment in a model dependent on social media platforms that failed to provide sufficient financial support. The digital media company will now consolidate its news efforts into HuffPost, which it acquired in 2020 and describes as profitable and less reliant on social platforms. While layoffs affect nearly all divisions, BuzzFeed.com will continue operating, and the company plans to focus on innovation involving creators and AI, though it states no jobs are being replaced by AI.

In December 2022, digital media company BuzzFeed laid off approximately 180 employees, representing 12% of its workforce, as part of a significant cost-cutting measure. The layoffs, announced on December 6, were driven by challenging macroeconomic conditions, including a pullback in advertising spending, the completion of its integration of Complex Media, and a strategic shift toward monetizing short-form vertical video. CEO Jonah Peretti stated the move was necessary to adapt to an economic downturn expected to extend into 2023. With around 1,522 employees at the end of 2021, the publicly traded company, which went public in late 2021, faced a widened net loss in Q3 2022 despite revenue growth, prompting a focus on optimizing its cost structure.