( 📸: Brendan Mcdermid/Reuters )
Cousins! Breaking reports confirm shocking news that BuzzFeed the digital news publication is preparing to shutdown!
“While layoffs are occurring across nearly every division, we’ve determined that the company can no longer continue to fund BuzzFeed News as a standalone organization,” says BuzzFeed chief executive Jonah Peretti on Thursday morning. Peretti says 15% of staff members will be a part of layoffs equating to 180 employees.
According to the New York Post , the publication declares that the current state of the economy played a part in the company’s decision to shut down. Peretti also noted that the, “pandemic, a fading SPAC market that yielded less capital, a tech recession, a tough economy, a declining stock market, a decelerating digital advertising market and ongoing audience and platform shifts,” lead to the company’s demise.
Peretti acknowledged that he “could have managed these changes better as the CEO of this company and our leadership team could have performed better despite these circumstances.”
It has also been stated that employees of the company may be able to obtain a position at HuffPost, the digital news website Buzzfeed acquired in 2020.
“HuffPost and BuzzFeed Dot Com have signaled that they will open a number of select roles for members of BuzzFeed News,” Peretti wrote in a forwarded statement.
He doubled down in saying, “Moving forward, we will have a single news brand in HuffPost, which is profitable, with a loyal direct front page audience.”
It has been indicated that there’s been a shift in leadership as well following the company’s announcement.
“As part of today’s changes, both our CRO (chief revenue officer) Edgar Hernandez and COO (chief operating officer) Christian Baesler have made the decision to exit the company.”
“I’m grateful to both of them for their passion and dedication to Complex and to BuzzFeed, Inc,”reads Peretti statement.
Employees of the company have taken to social media following the news with heavy hearts as they worry about the next steps within their journalistic careers.
Cousins, what are your #thoughts on this?