Business

12% Of BuzzFeed’s Workforce Is Being Cut

Published

1 year ago

December 7, 2022

12% Of BuzzFeed's Workforce Is Being Cut

(CTN News) – The news that BuzzFeed is laying off 12% of its employees amid worsening economic conditions comes after they announced at the beginning of the year that they would reduce the size of their workforce by 12%.

A filing made with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) indicates that the company cited “challenging macroeconomic conditions,” the completion of the acquisition of Complex Media Inc., and a shift in audience preferences to short form, vertical video.

According to the company, the reduction plan is expected to be “substantially completed” by the first quarter of 2023.

The company’s CEO, Jonah Peretti, told impacted employees in a memo sent to all employees that “our revenues are being adversely affected by a combination of worsening macroeconomic conditions, as well as the ongoing shift in audience preferences towards vertical video, which is still in the process of being monetized.

As a result, we will have to reduce our costs in order to achieve this. A spokesperson for BuzzFeed did not immediately respond to a request for comment regarding BuzzFeed’s decision to reduce its workforce as part of its ongoing cost-cutting efforts.

The event took place earlier this year. BuzzFeed has announced that it is scaling back its news coverage due to the departure of several editors.

According to the company, it is expected to incur annual restructuring charges in the range of $8 million to $12 million.

In an interview with BuzzFeed last year, Peretti wrote that they were focusing on removing redundant functions from Complex Networks, which BuzzFeed acquired last year.

In addition, BuzzFeed cut the staff of HuffPost after it acquired the news site last year and also made cuts to its own staff.

In Peretti’s words, “The path I am laying out today is the outcome of a deliberate and collaborative review of the organization’s resource allocation, in which the leadership team prioritizes:

Investing in areas that will drive growth, and shifting away from areas with a lower level of engagement with the audience;

As well as building a stronger creator business, which involves bringing a close connection between content, business, and technology, as well as bringing additional skills and tools into the company.”

It is not the first time BuzzFeed has gone through cost cuts.

Protocol announced last month that it would be shutting down its operations, while Axios reported on Wednesday that The Recount will be shutting down this week as well.

There have been a number of layoffs among traditional news outlets in the past week, including CNN, The Washington Post, NPR, and the Washington Post, which announced it will shutter its weekly magazine as of next week.