According to a message from CEO Jonah Peretti, the news and entertainment publisher BuzzFeed Inc., which owns the editorial brands BuzzFeed News, Complex, and HuffPost, said Tuesday that it is cutting 180 people or about 12% of its workforce.
The cuts, which primarily affect BuzzFeed.com, Complex Networks, and overlapping employment in sales, technology, and studio production divisions, come amid several massive cuts across the media business.
A decline in the advertising industry has prompted BuzzFeed Inc. to reduce staff, joining other publishers like Morning Brew, Protocol, BDG, Recurrent Ventures, CNN, and others.
According to Peretti, BuzzFeed Inc., in particular, has needed help adjusting to a changing digital ecology as the social platforms it depends on for traffic have changed their focus to favor vertical video.
Complex Networks, the culture publisher BuzzFeed Inc. purchased in December 2021 as part of its entry into the public markets via a special acquisition company, was disproportionately impacted by the downsizing.
BuzzFeed Inc. has been under pressure from investors to make cost reductions due to the stock price loss it has experienced since coming public, which has seen it move from $10 per share to about $1.10. Additionally, the publisher laid off employees in March of this year.
In his note, Peretti cited the substantial overlap in responsibilities between BuzzFeed Inc. and Complex Networks as why Complex Networks received most of the cutbacks.
The reductions occurred two weeks after ComplexCon, the most significant event in BuzzFeed Inc.’s experiential portfolio, wrapped up.
Additionally, the publisher declared its aim to broaden the scope of its events in 2023, bringing ComplexCon international and introducing several new activations based on well-known franchises like Tasty and First We Feast.
The lousy news adds another chapter to the media industry’s increasingly gloomy winter, whose stability has weakened as advertisers hold back their spending due to economic uncertainties.
Other articles related to this news:
https://www.adweek.com/media/buzzfeed-layoffs-advertising-slowdown
https://www.cnbc.com/2022/12/06/buzzfeed-to-cut-12percent-of-its-workforce.html
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/digital/buzzfeed-12-percent-layoffs-1235276172/
https://www.cnn.com/2022/12/06/media/buzzfeed-job-cuts/index.html
