What BuzzFeed’s decline says about digital media

As BuzzFeed goes; Apparently digital media is no different.

And it doesn’t work. Far from it. As the atmosphere around digital media in the social media era fades, no other company is struggling as much as BuzzFeed. Specifically, their struggles are being recorded for everyone to see in the stock market.

The company went public about two years ago through a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) aimed at boosting revenue. On the contrary, it caused the stock price to fall by about 2% from its opening price until early this week. The company has consistently struggled to maintain even a modest stock price, and aggressive actions have gone awry, leading to the potential risk of Nasdaq delisting. They thought it would be a huge hit. Now it looks like a penny stock.

Here are some notable moves the company has made over the past few years.

1. In 2020, the company acquired HuffPost. Comments from Verizon ultimately resulted in the company dispensing with its prominent news outlet, BuzzFeed News.
2. In 2021, BuzzFeed acquired Complex Networks Acquired for about $300 million, this large acquisition appeared to be aimed at making BuzzFeed a player based on its size. To the untrained eye, it often appears that BuzzFeed acquired Complex simply to gain ownership, beyond any desire to do better on the stock market. hot onesa viral phenomenon created by Complex video channel First We Feast.
3. In December 2021, BuzzFeed filed for a SPAC. Many employees who owned stock in the company were left holding the bag because they were unable to sell the company’s stock before it quickly began to blow up.
4. 2023, BuzzFeed News — Publications The company overcame initial criticism and closed its doors with at least one Pulitzer still in stores, but the deal was discontinued as it expanded its overall staffing by 15%. CEO Jonah Peretti specifically blamed “BuzzFeed and Complex’s integration process” (and thus not BuzzFeed News staff) for the closure.
5. Last fall, the company sold worldwide rights to Our library of content includes over 1,200 hours of programming, including: hot ones Many BuzzFeed originals are also featured on FilmRise.

Meanwhile, some of the biggest stars are moving on for the better. Ryan Broderick, nailed by a plagiarism controversy, bounced back (and some bounced back) with “Garbage Day.” Try Guys are (mostly) still trying things out. Quinta Branson, a former BuzzFeed video producer, has her own one of the most popular and award-winning shows on television. She gives her thanks to viral legend Matt Stopera (who somehow still exists).

One of the most depressing markets in stock history.

And this week, the company finally sold Complex for $108.6 million, a third of what the site was worth two years ago. (First We Feast was retained, however.) That, along with more layoffs, sent BuzzFeed’s stock price down more than a quarter for the first time in more than a month, compared to about $1.75 a year ago. When you think about it, this is truly amazing news. The company remains at risk of embarrassing delisting.

In many ways, these issues reflect a failure on BuzzFeed’s part to build a proper moat around its value proposition. By betting big on social media, BuzzFeed couldn’t protect itself from the decline in reach caused by companies not making decisions. I can’t control it. In other words, this is a BuzzFeed-specific problem caused by a BuzzFeed-specific decision. (In fact, without HuffPost, things would arguably be worse. HuffPost’s model was built to better block out the very problems that ended up costing lives.) buzzfeed news—However, it was originally acquired to better scale BuzzFeed itself. )

But at a time when layoffs are impacting such a wide swath of the media world, one can’t help but wonder if BuzzFeed is a harbinger of broader challenges facing media. Companies that once seemed full of ideas and solutions for the digital age have seen their very ideas disappear in the light of day. Over the years, the most grounded and successful ideas in 2024 were not built in-house, but acquired from elsewhere. This was surprising even when he thought about it five years ago.

When BuzzFeed first scaled up, it was betting on virality and scale to win. But it turns out that basic business fundamentals are also important. And unfortunately, while many companies took notice of that idea, represented by BuzzFeed, in hindsight it feels like a bad bet. I would be lying if I didn’t admit that I wasn’t one of those people.

Well at least they still have hot ones.