BuzzFeed to close news division, cut 15 per cent of all staff
- CEO Jonah Peretti said in a memo to staff that the additional lay-offs would take place in its business, content, tech and administrative teams
- BuzzFeed News won its first Pulitzer in 2021 for a series on the infrastructure built by the Chinese government for the mass detention of Muslims
Pulitzer Prize winning digital media company BuzzFeed will shut down its news division and cut another 15 per cent of its staff across the company, adding to lay-offs made earlier this year.
BuzzFeed has around 1,200 total employees, according to a recent regulatory filing.
In a memo sent to staff, co-founder and CEO Jonah Peretti said that in addition to the news division, lay-offs would take place in its business, content, tech and administrative teams. BuzzFeed is also considering making job cuts in international markets.
Peretti said in the memo that he “made the decision to overinvest” in the news division, but failed to recognise early enough that the financial support needed to sustain operations was not there.
Digital advertising has plummeted this year, cutting into the profitability of major tech companies from Google to Facebook. Waves of lay-offs have rolled through the tech industry and more are expected.