180 BuzzFeed News Employees Are Going To Be Laid Off

(CTN News) – In a memo sent Thursday, CEO Jonah Peretti said BuzzFeed News was closing because it couldn’t turn a profit. In BuzzFeed News and other divisions, 180 employees are being laid off, or 15% of the company’s workforce.

In 2012, BuzzFeed News was founded by former editor-in-chief Ben Smith. It was because I love BuzzFeed News’ work and mission that I overinvested.”. Because of this, I was slow to accept that the big platforms wouldn’t support premium, free journalism.”

As per Peretti, HuffPost is a much more profitable brand, which has a more engaged, loyal audience that is less dependent on social media platforms in order to reach its audience.

In addition to creators, AI and cultural moments, Peretti also wrote, “we will bring more innovation to clients across BuzzFeed, Complex, HuffPost, Tasty, and First We Feast.”

According to BuzzFeed, AI is not replacing jobs. Peretti said AI will become a part of the company’s core business after the company started using it to create content, such as quizzes.

The company is also losing its chief revenue officer Edgar Hernandez and chief operating officer Christian Baesler. The revenue functions will be handled immediately by BuzzFeed president Marcela Martin.

In the BuzzFeed News network, all BuzzFeed News work will be preserved and available, according to a BuzzFeed representative. Additionally, BuzzFeed is working to ensure any stories currently in development by the BuzzFeed News team will be published and promoted on BuzzFeed properties as well.

Several BuzzFeed News journalists will be offered roles at HuffPost and BuzzFeed.com to expand their coverage in areas of interest to them.

Karolina Waclawiak, BuzzFeed’s new editor in chief, tweeted, “It has been an honor and a privilege to lead @BuzzFeedNews.”. Throughout my career, I have worked with some of the most talented and generous people in journalism. It was a culture change. The laws have been changed. They should all be hired.”

A portion of the note Waclawiak sent to BuzzFeed News staff was also shared: “We had successfully diversified our revenue over the past eight months, but it wasn’t enough to overcome the larger financial challenges within the company and monetization changes with social platforms like Facebook.”

Please accept my deepest apologies. You deserve more than what you’re getting now. Better is due to you. The company could have built a business around BuzzFeed News far earlier.”

She continued, “And while I believe this outcome could have been avoided for BuzzFeed News, it’s indicative of a larger crisis facing journalism today.”

Putting journalism behind a paywall seems to be the only way to sustain a news business.

It implies that only those who can afford it will have access to high-quality information, while everyone else will be forced to sort through the rampant misinformation that is widely shared on social media. This has dire consequences.”

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