BuzzFeed to Lay Off 100 Staffers After Missing Revenue Goal
BuzzFeed CEO Jonah Peretti announces the news to staff in a company-wide email on Wednesday
Jon Levine | November 29, 2017 @ 9:03 AM
Last Updated: November 29, 2017 @ 10:34 AM
BuzzFeed
BuzzFeed will lay off around 100 employees after the company missed revenue targets earlier this year, TheWrap has learned. The company employees roughly 1,700 people worldwide.
BuzzFeed CEO Jonah Peretti announced the news to staff in a company-wide email.
“As our strategy evolves, we need to evolve our organization, too — particularly our business team, which was built to support direct-sold advertising but will need to bring in different, more diverse expertise,” said Peretti.
“We’ll be significantly expanding our investment to grow our lifestyle brands and additional new areas, and at the same time making necessary reductions in other areas that will impact employees on our U.S. Business team and in the U.K.”
In addition, Peretti announced that Greg Coleman will step down as president of BuzzFeed to become a senior adviser to the company. Chief Revenue Officer Lee Brown will now report directly to Peretti, who continues his search for a new chief operating officer.
The cuts come amid reports that the company expects to fall short of its revenue targets by as much as 20 percent this year.
19 Media and Entertainment CEOs Ranked by Likability, From Least to Most (Photos)
Ouch. Armstrong was the lowest-rated of all the execs. Voters probably haven’t forgotten when he came under fire back in February 2014 for singling out the sick babies of two women at the company for increasing the cost of health benefits.
18. Charlie Vogt, Imagine Communications -- 53.5 /100
The head of the Dallas-based provider of multiscreen video and ad management solutions seems shockingly unpopular.
17. Brian L. Roberts, Comcast -- 56.9 /100
16. Richard L. Plepler, HBO -- 60.5 / 100
15. Peter Hamilton, Tune -- 62.5/100
The Seattle-based mobile platform company was founded in 2009.
14. James C. Smith, Thomson Reuters -- 66.8/100
13. Thomas Dooley, Viacom -- 70.5/100
In November 2016, Bob Bakish was named acting CEO when Dooley stepped down just months after becoming interim chief executive following the ouster of Philippe Dauman.
11. Mike Hopkins, Hulu -- 71.5/100 (tie)
11. Jeffrey Bewkes, Time Warner -- 71.5/100 (tie)
10. Naveen Tewari, InMobi -- 75.5/100
Tewari co-founded the mobile advertising giant in India in 2007.
9. Tim Westergren, Pandora -- 77.5/100
8. William Lewis, Dow Jones -- 78.5/100
The financial information giant that publishes the Wall Street Journal has been owned by NewsCorp since 2007.
7. Marvin Edwards Jr., CommScope -- 79.5/100
CommScope specializes in communications networks.
6. Reed Hastings, Netflix -- 80.8/100
5. Bob Iger, Disney -- 83.6/100
4. Jared Rowe, YP -- 87.5/100
Last August, the digital media company named former Cox Enterprises exec Jared Rowe to replace David Krantz as CEO.
3. Girish Ramdas, Magzter -- 88.5/100
Ramdas co-founded the digital magazine app in 2011.
2. John Martin, Turner -- 89.5/100
1. Steven R. Swartz, Hearst -- 91.5/100
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AOL boss Tim Armstrong, you’ve got hate mail — according to a study by crowd-sourced business insights firm Owler
