BuzzFeed shareholders urge CEO Jonah Peretti to close news operations as it incurs a loss of $10 mn a year

New York-based BuzzFeed has grabbed headlines amongst reports that shareholders of the company have urged the Founder and CEO Jonah Peretti to shut down the company completely.

The entire newsroom reportedly incurs a loss of $10 million a year for Buzzfeed shareholders. CNBC has reported that the company is looking for voluntary buyouts, and some of its top editors are leaving. Many prominent shareholders have asked Peretti to close the news operations completely.

Among the departing employees, Mark Schoofs, who was the Editor in Chief, and Tom Namako, the Deputy Editor in Chief, will join the NBC News Digital on Tuesday. Also, Ariel Kaminer, who was the investigations Executive Editor, plans to leave.


What are the recent updates?

This Tuesday, the earnings call of BuzzFeed was held, where CEO Peretti stated that the company plans to expedite its investment in the video vertical popular on different apps like TikTok.

But it was observed that things were not that pleasant in the meeting; someone recorded and leaked the meeting to the Business Insider. As per the recording, Peretti has taken a realistic approach with the recent developments.

And when the staff and the representatives were given a chance to ask questions, many reporters said that Peretti had by then left the meeting.

What are the actions being taken to address the issue?

As per the latest memo issued to the employees by Peretti, the news division would slash its employee size and focus on the areas of coverage where the audience connects more.

He further said that the company needs to focus more on Breaking News, celebrities, culture & entertainment, and 'life on the internet' segments.