BuzzFeed shuts down unprofitable news business for good

BuzzFeed has announced plans to shut down its news division, which was once considered a serious challenger to legacy media companies.  

This  latest move comes as the company seeks to refocus on its core business of producing quirky lists and cooking videos. The decision will result in the layoff of around 15% of BuzzFeed's workforce, or 180 employees, in business, content, tech and administration.

HuffPost will now become BuzzFeed's primary news division. 

Announcing the move to staff, chief executive Jonah Peretti admitted he made the wrong decision to overinvest in BuzzFeed News because “I love their work and mission so much”.  

“This made me slow to accept that the big platforms wouldn’t provide the distribution or financial support required to support premium, free journalism purpose-built for social media,” said Peretti. 

Shutting down its news division is therefore in effect the result of BuzzFeed's inability to find a working business model for its news division, which was a consistent money loser. Like other digital media outlets, BuzzFeed's reliance on advertising made it vulnerable to downturns as advertisers shifted to TikTok and other social media platforms. During the pandemic and subsequent economic downturn BuzzFeed's business overall further declined.

Once considered to be a digital new journalism business of the future, BuzzFeed instead began to see the same writing on the wall as its traditional news media counterparts.

In 2020, BuzzFeed announced its decision to scale back its news operations in Australia and the UK due to "economic and strategic reasons" during a "difficult period". As a result, ten employees in the UK were placed on furlough while four in Australia were affected.  

The company stated that it would no longer cover local news in the two countries but would continue to serve audiences with relevant English-language news from its other outposts.  

It planned to retain editorial staff in the UK who are dedicated to producing globally-relevant news in areas such as social news, celebrity, and investigations.