BuzzFeed American Internet is a media, news, and entertainment company focused on digital media that has now bought out HuffPost from its owner Verizon Media. With this deal, both sites will remain under their own sites and still use their own editorial staff.
What We Know:
- As part of the arrangement, Verizon Media will become a minority shareholder in BuzzFeed, the companies said, but it will not have a seat on BuzzFeed’s board. According to BBC, the two of them will join together for advertisements and sharing content. They said these would create new revenue opportunities. In May, Buzzfeed closed its newsrooms in the UK and Australia and slashed staff pay due to online advertising being more centered around places such as Instagram, Facebook, and Google.
- With this change, HuffPost is expected to remain a standalone brand, alongside other Buzzfeed sites, including Tasty and Buzzfeed News, and HuffPost readers will be added to the audience to increase traffic.
- Chief Executive Jonah Peretti, who co-founded Huffington Post with Ariana Huffington in 2005, which is now known as HuffPost. “We’re excited about our partnership with Verizon Media, and mutual benefits that will come from syndicating content across each other’s properties,” Mr. Peretti said in a statement. A year later, Peretti founded Buzzfeed, and it’s more directed towards young audiences with listicles and quizzes.
- Verizon will still play a part in the company and become a minority shareholder. According to NBC News, the two companies will partner on shopping experiences for consumers, content syndication across each other’s platforms, and ad products. BuzzFeed paid for HuffPost with company shares, the value of which was not revealed.
- Peretti said that the Covid-19 pandemic has accelerated the shift to digital and benefited digital-first companies and that BuzzFeed hopes this deal will enable it to “be the formidable leader in our space.” He told staffers more details would be discussed at the company’s global all-hands meeting Thursday.
There hasn’t been much said about jobs being lost, but it’s a possibility. Media changes can be good, and this one is probably a great move.
