- Have any questions?
- 02 9247 6000
- media@commsroom.co
- Have any questions?
- 02 9247 6000
- media@commsroom.co
Menu
Not even a Pulitzer Prize could save them.
Mirroring the experience of many newsrooms today, Buzzfeed has decided to lay off its entire news division as part of a cost-cutting measure. The shut down comes just two years after they won their first Pulitzer in international reporting for a series by Megha Rajagopalan, Alison Killing and Christo Buschek that reported on the Chinese government’s infrastructure for the mass incarceration of Muslims.
That same year, Buzzfeed made a splash by reporting on an an exposé on the global banking industry’s role in money laundering. The reports were based on a stockpile of confidential financial reports leaked by a former US Treasury Department employee, who is now serving six months in prison.
The layoff will affect 15% of its workforce, which also affects their business, content, tech and administrative teams.
In a memo sent to staff, Buzzfeed Inc. co-founder and CEO Jonah Peretti said overinvesting in the news division was his mistake, and that he failed to recognise the lack of a financial base to support the structure.
“I’ve learned from these mistakes, and the team moving forward has learned from them as well… we know that the changes and improvements we are making today are necessary steps to building a better future,” Peretti wrote.
According to a report by the Business Mirror some 180 people will be losing their jobs in the latest cuts.
Buzzfeed’s layoffs are the latest in the trend of cost-cutting measures done by companies as revenue from digital advertising continues to plummet.
Last month, Meta let go of 10,000 jobs to “achieve efficiency,” which accounts for 25% of its workforce in just four months.
In the beginning of this year, Google’s parent company Alphabet cut 12,000 jobs, despite making great headway in new technological fronts such as artificial intelligence.
