ALBAWABA- BuzzFeed News, the Pulitzer Prize-winning digital news website, will be shutting down as part of broader layoffs across BuzzFeed, announced the company’s CEO Jonah Peretti on Thursday.
BuzzFeed will slash 15% of its workforce, amounting to 180 employees. While layoffs are happening across nearly every division, BuzzFeed News cannot continue to function as a standalone organization. BuzzFeed has begun discussions with the News Guild, the union representing staffers at the company. Peretti indicated that some BuzzFeed News staffers might be able to find roles at HuffPost, which BuzzFeed acquired in 2020.
BuzzFeed invested vast sums of money into its news product years ago, but the company has moved away from that approach, dramatically reducing its newsroom. The news of BuzzFeed News’ closure prompted an outpouring of messages from former BuzzFeed News staffers expressing sadness and dismay.
“What a ferocious travesty and a huge loss to journalism,” John Paczkowski, a Forbes executive editor and former BuzzFeed News journalist wrote on Twitter. Kate Nocera, an Axios editor and former bureau chief at BuzzFeed News, noted that the news was “a long time coming,” but said it still “stings.”
The company’s economic environment has played a role in the layoffs, but Peretti also took part of the blame, stating that he could have managed the changes better. Peretti said he regretted not holding the company to higher standards for profitability to manage economic and industry downturns and avoid painful days like this.
BuzzFeed had announced in January that it would use artificial intelligence to create content for its website, boosting its stock by more than 150%. However, it soon fell back to where it was. The announcement of BuzzFeed News’ closure and layoffs has sent the company's already low stock down another 20%.
BuzzFeed is not the only news organization facing struggles, and nearly every major news, media, and technology company has announced layoffs in recent months. On Thursday, Insider announced that it would lay off approximately 10% of its staff, citing economic headwinds that have hurt many of its clients and partners.
