We’ve been covering the rocky times for BuzzFeed multiple times over the past few years. It all came to a head today as the reaper swung his scythe. Buzzfeed News is being shuttered.
Unsurprisingly, the word that the newsgroup was shutting down came as a memo. The document in question, linked below, is allegedly from Jonah Peretti, BuzzFeed’s CEO. In the multi-page document, Peretti says he regrets that he did not “hold the company to higher standards for profitability, to give us the buffer needed to manage through economic and industry downturns…”
Peretti says he overinvested in the organization because of his admiration for what the crew did and their “mission.” However, the lack of return on that investment and other factors like declining ad revue cemented his recent decision. After chasing multiple cost-saving avenues, Peretti concluded that Buzzfeed News is shuttering and only HuffPost will remain.
Now, this does not signal the end of BuzzFeed altogether. The pop culture website will remain open, but all news ventures will strictly stay in the domain of The Huffington Post. Thankfully, members of BuzzFeed News will have the opportunity to apply for newly opened positions within both companies.
Considering that BuzzFeed may start employing more AI to generate stories, who knows how long it will be until those new positions get the ax?
BREAKING: BuzzFeed news is shutting down. @peretti’s memo: pic.twitter.com/k3vGnHOkcl
— Ben Mullin (@BenMullin) April 20, 2023
On occasion, BuzzFeed would do what we as journalists should and investigate real issues. Instead, however, the past few years have seen the company become a parody of itself, especially on YouTube.
BuzzFeed News pushed the Steele Dossier, which was questionable at best, and possibly a paid-for smear job at worst. However, the news arm of the company coveted it because, in my opinion, money and ideology became more important than ethics. This led to several lawsuits against the company.
What do you think of BuzzFeed News’s fate? Let us know below.
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