The Buzzfeed website on a smartphone is held on Monday, Dec. 6, 2021, in Hastings-on-Hudson, New York.
Tiffany Hagler-Geard | Bloomberg | Getty Images
buzzfeed On Tuesday announced plans to cut about 12% of its workforce, or about 180 employees.
The digital media company said the decision to lay off employees comes in response to challenging economic conditions, the acquisition of Complex Networks and an ongoing audience shift to short-form, vertical video.
The layoffs affect the sales, production, technology and content divisions for Complex and BuzzFeed, but not BuzzFeed News or HuffPost, according to the company.
Shares of BuzzFeed, which went public a year ago, hit a new low of $1.06 on Tuesday.
CEO Jonah Peretti said in a memo to employees, “For Buzzfeed to weather an economic downturn that I believe will extend well into 2023, we need to invest in our strategy to best serve our audience.” and readjust its cost structure.”
The company expects to cut most of the jobs by the end of the first quarter. As of March, the company had About 1,500 employees.
Last year, BuzzFeed went public through a special purpose acquisition vehicle, and shares fell nearly 40% in their first week of trading. in March, The company scaled back its news operation Efforts are being made to make the department profitable. The reorganization saw the departure of several high-level editors.
Peretti said Tuesday that he wants the company to invest “in areas that will drive growth” and build a “more robust makerspace business.”