By Michelle Chapman | The Associated Press
Pulitzer Prize winning digital media company BuzzFeed will shut down its news division cuts another 15% of its staff, about 180 employees, across the company, adding to layoffs made earlier this year.
The Los Angeles-based company has approximately 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 take place in its business, content, tech 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 overinvest” in the news division but failed to recognize early enough that the financial support needed to sustain operations was not there.
Digital advertising has plummeted this year, cutting into the profitability of major tech companies from Google to Facebook. Waves of layoffs have rolled through the tech industry and more are expected.
“I’ve learned from these mistakes, and the team moving forward has learned from them as well,” Peretti wrote. “We know that the changes and improvements we are making today are necessary steps to building a better future.”
Christian Baesler, the company’s chief operating officer, and Edgar Hernandez, its chief revenue officer, are also leaving after they assist 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 heartsick about it, and proud of the great journalism we did when I was there and after I left,” said Ben Smith, BuzzFeed’s editor from 2011 to 2020 and now editor-in-chief of Semafor.
Smith made the controversial decision in 2017 to publish a “dossier” of information about then-President Donald Trump, even though many outlets avoided it as unreliable and even Buzzfeed said there were…
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