Buzzfeed to close its news division and cut 15% of its workforce
Jonah Peretti: "I made the decision to overinvest in BuzzFeed News because I love their work and mission so much"
BuzzFeed is set to close its news division and cut 15% of its staff.
Founder Jonah Peretti told staff in a memo sent out on Thursday that “the company can no longer continue to fund BuzzFeed News”, as reported by The Guardian.
The publication reported that the media company, in addition to axing shutting down its Pulitzer Prize-winning new division, will cut jobs across business, content, tech and administrative team.
The Sydney Morning Herald noted that the media company is also looking into cutting jobs in international markets.
In the memo, Peretti explained to the staff that he "made the decision to overinvest" in BuzzFeed News because he believed in their work and mission but failed to recognise the financial support needed for operations.
“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," he said.
Peretti continued: "I've learned from these mistakes, and the team moving forward has learned from them as well. We know that the changes and improvements we are making today are necessary steps to building a better future."
The Sydney Morning Herald noted that Buzzfeed's announcement comes after the media company announced it would be cutting 12 per cent of its workforce a few months ago due to worsening economic conditions.
The leading media trade publication in Australia.
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Buzzfeed's chief operating officer Christian Baesler and chief revenue officer Edgar Hernandez will depart from the company after they assist with the restructuring.
Following the impending closure of Buzzfeed News, the media company will have only one news brand, HuffPost.
The HuffPost will continue to publish news, despite having cutback in coverage in recent years. The Sydney Morning Herald report that Peretti said the HuffPost was profitable as it had a loyal audience who visit its homepage directly, rather than relying on social media for distribution.
