By Emma Wu
Buzzfeed is an Internet media, news, and entertainment company. Founded in 2006 by Jonah Peretti and John S. Johnson III to track viral media content, this website has grown over the years tremendously over the years, spreading to new sects of media and gaining subsidiary companies. However, following the COVID-19 pandemic, there was an economic recession and even such a large company couldn’t escape the consequences.
Buzzfeed is cutting 12% of its workforce, due to worsening economic conditions. The New York company made this announcement on Tuesday, December 6. While they never disclosed the exact number of employees they were laying off, 12% of Buzzfeed employees can equate to roughly 180 people. For companies like Buzzfeed, advertisements from commercial companies or industries are a large amount of revenue. However, due to rising costs stemming from the economic recession, these very companies are pulling back on advertising costs. As such, this leads to worsening economic conditions for Buzzfeed as well. About 2 years ago, Buzzfeed shares were near $10, however now midday trading shares have fallen more than 4% to $1.09 each.
These economic conditions led to the decision to cut Buzzfeed’s decision to cut its workforce. Job cuts are expected to be completed by the end of the first quarter in 2023. Following, job cut charges are expected to range from $8 million to $12 million dollars, to be booked during the fourth quarter of the year.
Clearly, the pandemic still has far reaching consequences. Even as things are returning to normal, the long term effects of the lockdown on our society and economy are still being felt.
