BuzzFeed Inc. Lays Off 12% of Staff, Citing Ads Slowdown

The news and culture publisher BuzzFeed Inc., which houses the editorial titles BuzzFeed News, Complex and HuffPost, announced Tuesday that it is laying off around 12% of its workforce, or roughly 180 employees, according to a memo from chief executive Jonah Peretti obtained by Adweek. The layoffs, which primarily affect Complex Networks, BuzzFeed.com and overlapping roles in sales, technology and studio production divisions, come amidst a series of sweeping cuts throughout the media industry. Prompted by a downturn in the advertising market, BuzzFeed Inc. joins publishers such as Morning Brew, Protocol, BDG, Recurrent Ventures, CNN and others in trimming their headcount. BuzzFeed Inc., in particular, has struggled to adapt to a shifting digital ecosystem, as the social platforms it relies on for traffic have pivoted to promote vertical video, according to Peretti. As Big Tech Tightens Its Ad Spend, Axel Springer Titles Feel the Impact "We're taking these actions because our revenues are being impacted by a combination of worsening macroeconomic conditions, and the ongoing audience shift to short-form, vertical video, which is still developing from a monetization standpoint," he wrote in the memo. Complex Networks bears the brunt of the layoffs The cuts disproportionately affected Complex Networks, the culture publisher that BuzzFeed Inc. acquired in December 2021 as part of its entrance into the public markets via a special acquisition company. Since going public, BuzzFeed Inc. has seen the price of its stock drop from $10 per share to around $1.10, a decline that has prompted it to cut costs amid pressure from investors. The publisher also laid off staff earlier this year in March. In his note, Peretti pointed to the high degree of overlapping roles between BuzzFeed Inc. and Complex Networks as the explanation for why the majority of the cuts came from Complex Networks. "Over the past 11 months, we also learned there are more opportunities to centralize—and to share resources and insights across our portfolio of brands," he wrote. The cuts come two weeks after the completion of ComplexCon, the largest event in the BuzzFeed Inc. experiential portfolio. The publisher also announced its intention to expand its events footprint in 2023, taking ComplexCon global and launching a series of new activations based on popular franchises such as Tasty and First We Feast. The grim news adds a further chapter to an increasingly bleak winter for the media industry, whose stability has faltered as marketers withhold their ad spend in light of economic uncertainty. 4 Charts Reveal How Facebook Traffic to Publishers Has Changed

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BuzzFeed Inc. Lays Off 12% of Staff, Citing Advertising Slowdown

Roughly 180 employees were affected by the cuts

Mark Stenberg

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