BuzzFeed CEO Jonah Peretti said on Thursday that the company plans to lay off 15% of its workforce and shut down its news division.
Layoffs impact BuzzFeed’s business, content, administrative, and technical teams. About 180 people have been laid off. The company’s total workforce is approximately 1,200 at the time of its most recent securities report.
BuzzFeed News, part of the content arm of the digital media company, has about 100 employees and is losing about $10 million a year, two people familiar with the matter told CNBC last year.
The company’s stock has fallen about 90% since its IPO. They dropped more than 27% on Thursday, trading at around 68 cents. Peretti also writes that the head of revenue Edgar Hernandez and head of sales Christian Bessler have decided to leave the company.
BuzzFeed cut nearly 12% of its workforce in December 2022, about 180 staff. The company said the layoffs were made in response to difficult economic conditions and the acquisition of Complex Networks.
In an attempt to make BuzzFeed News profitable, the digital media company scaled back its news operations, resulting in the departure of several editors. The company went public last year through a special-purpose takeover vehicle, sending shares down nearly 40% in the first week of trading.
One shareholder told CNBC last year that closing Newsroom could push the stock’s market cap to $300 million.
Peretti also wrote that the company is proposing job cuts in some international markets.
